164 



STELLERIA DISPAR. THE PIED STELLERIA. 



WESTERN DUCK. STELLER'S DUCK. 



Anas dispar. Gmel. Syst. Nat. I. 535. 



Anas dispar. Lath. Ind. Omith. II. 866. 



Fuligula dispar. Selby, lUustr. Brit. Ornith. II. 360. 



Fnligula dispar. Western Pochard. Jcnyns, Brit. Vert. Anim. 243. 



Anas dispar. Temm. Man. d' Ornith. IV. -547. 



Stellaria dispar. Bonap. Comp. List, 57. 



Male. — Various descriptions are given by British and 

 American authors, from whose statements one might com- 

 pile a pretty good account of this rare bird, of which only a 

 single specimen has been obtained in England. This speci- 

 men, which was shot in February, 1830, at Caistor, near 

 Yarmouth, has been figured in Mr. Audubon's " gigantic 

 work," from a drawing made by his son, John Woodhouse ; 

 as well as by Mr. Yarrell, in his deservedly esteemed History 

 of British Birds, from a drawing made by Mr. Charles 

 Buckler. It is described in Mr. Audubon's work, partly 

 from the plate and partly from notes taken by Mr. Audubon, 

 jun., part of the description being as follows : — 



" Bill dull greyish-blue, as are the feet ; the claws yel- 

 lowish-grey. The upper part of the head and a broad band 

 surrounding the neck arc Avhite ; the throat and some 

 feathers surrounding the eye are black ; a light green patch 

 in the loral space, and a transverse patch of the same on the 

 nape, margined behind and laterally with black. A broad 

 band on the neck and the whole of the back are velvet- 

 black, with green reflections ; the smaller wing-coverts white ; 

 the secondary coverts (it ought to be the outer secondary 

 quills) bluish-black, terminating in a broad white band ; the 

 elongated secondaries and scapulars with the inner web 



