LONG-TAILED DUCK. 125 



singular conformation is, as usual, peculiar to the male, the female 

 having the windpipe of nearly an uniform thickness throughout. She 

 differs also so much in the colors and markings of her plumage as to 

 render a figure of her in the same plate necessary ; for a description 

 of which see the following article. 



LONG-TAILED DUCK. 



[Plate LXX. Fig. 2, Female.] 

 Alias hyemaUs, Linx. Syst. 202, 29. — Lath. Syn. iii. p. 529.* 



The female is distinguished from the male by wanting the lengthened 

 tertials, and the two long pointed feathers of the tail, and also by her 

 size, and the rest of her plumage, which is as follows : length sixteen 

 inches, extent twenty-eight inches ; bill dusky ; middle of the crown 

 and spot on the side of the neck blackish ; a narrow dusky line runs 

 along the throat for two inches ; rest of the head and upper half of the 

 neck white ; lower half pale vinaceous bay blended with white ; all the 

 rest of the lower parts of the body pure white ; back, scapulars, and 

 lesser wing-coverts bright ferruginous, centered with black, and inter- 

 spersed with whitish ; shoulders of the wing, and quills black ; lower 

 part of the back the same, tinged wdth brown ; tail pale brown ash, 

 inner vanes of all but the two middle feathers white ; legs and feet 

 dusky slate. The legs are placed far behind, which circumstance 

 points out the species to be great divers. In some females the upper 

 parts are less ferruginous. 



Some writers suppose the singular voice, or call, of this species, to be 

 occasioned by the remarkable construction of its windpipe; but the 

 fact, that the females are uniformly the most noisy, and yet are entirely 

 destitute of the singularities of this conformation, overthrows the proba^ 

 bility of this supposition. 



* This is a young male and not a female. 



