COMMON, OR WHITE-BACKED EIDER. Ijl 



toe 2, its claw ^; third toe 2^, its claw -^; fourth toe 

 2^, its claw -^. 



Female. — The female, which is not much smaller, has 

 the plumage less blended, the scapulars and inner curved 

 secondaries shorter, and the feathers of the upper parts very 

 broad, distinct, and rounded, of the lower less distinct, none 

 of the feathers on the cheeks and nape hairlike. The colours 

 are also very different. The bill, Avhich is shorter, with its 

 basal part less tumid, is of a greenish dusky tint, with the 

 unguis of the upper mandible bluish horn-colour, that of the 

 lower purplish. The feet are greenish dusky, the scutella 

 approaching to oil-green. The upper part of the head is 

 deep brown, with longitudinal streaks of brownish-white ; 

 its sides and the throat light grey, with small longitudinal 

 dots of deep brown ; the upper part of the neck all round 

 light brownish- red, with small dusky streaks ; the lower 

 neck all round with semilunar spots of deep brown, pale 

 yellowish-brown, and dull white, each feather having toward 

 the end, first a bar of dusky not seen, then a band of pale 

 brown, then another of blackish-brown, and the disunited 

 margins greyish-white. On the lower neck anteriorly the 

 white of the margins predominates, and is deeply tinged 

 with brownish-yellow. The feathers of the back and the 

 scapulars are brownish-black, with pale yellowish-brown 

 margins ; the hind part of the back is similar, but with the 

 markings smaller, all being transverse. The wing-coverts 

 similar, but lighter. The quills are deep brown, the outer 

 secondaries with the terminal margin of the outer web Avhite, 

 the inner secondaries with the outer web pale reddish-brown ; 

 the primary and secondary coverts correspond in colour with 

 their quills, and there is a bar of white along the tips of the 

 secondary coverts. The tail-feathers are deep brown, with 

 ash-grey margins. The fore part of the breast is dull red- 

 dish, barred with dusky ; on the rest of the breast and the 

 abdomen the ground colour becomes deep greenish-broAvn, 

 and the bars more obscure, but the sides are brightly coloured ; 

 the axillars and some of the loAver wing-coverts white, but 

 the lower surface of the wing in general is grey. 



