932 SVSTEMA riC synopsis. — LA MELLIROSTRES — ANSERES. 



Old Granny. Old Molly. Old Billy. John Connolly. Uncle Huldy. My 

 Aunt Huldy. Cowheen or Coween. Calaw or Calloo. Cockawee. Scolde- 

 NOKE. Scolder. Quandy. $ , in breeding dress : Bill black on basal half and nail, the 

 intervening portion of a variable and fugacious bright tint in life, as pink, salmon-pink, or 

 pinkish-orange, which changes soon after death to reddish- purple, and in long-dried skins 

 shows as orange or orauge-rcd ; iris yellow ; feet livid bluish, with dusky webs and black 

 claws. Head on top and behind blackish, with a great patch of silvery-gray, whitening around 

 and behind eye. Neck all around and fore breast, vei-y dark chocolate-brown, almost black- 

 ish ; quills and lining of wings the same; under parts from breast abruptly white. Upper 

 parts at large, and long tail-feathers blackisli ; long scapulars varied with bright reddish ; 

 shorter tail-feathers whitish, lateral wholly so, intermediate ones in part dark. Length very 

 variable, according to development of tail, up to 23.00 ; middle tail-feathers up to 8.00-9.00 

 hmg, Literal only about 2.50; wing 8.50-9.50; extent 30.00; bill 1.25; tarsus the same; 

 middle toe and claw twice as much. Adult $, in winter: No reddish on upper parts; scapu- 

 lars pearly-gray. Head, neck, and fore back white or whitish, with gray cheek-patch, and 

 dark brown or blackish patch below ear. Fore breast of the latter color, set squarely between 

 white of neck and belly. Upper parts except as said, and 4 middle tail-feathers (less devel- 

 oped than in summer) blackish ; rest white. Bill extensively bright-colored, with nail and 

 broad saddle on mandible black ; iris straw-yellow. Young ^ in first winter with bill and feet 

 dusky: iris brownish. Adult 9 in summer: No elongation of tail or scapulars; length about 

 18.00; extent under 30.00 ; wing 8.00-9.00; tail about 3.00. Bill and feet dusky-greenish ; 

 iris yellow. Head, neck, and upper parts dark grayish-brown, paler on throat, with large 

 grayish-white patch around eye and another on side of neck ; under parts white, shaded along 

 sides. Thus an obscure medium-sized Duck ; notice generic characteristics of bill, 14 tail- 

 feathers, no white on wing, gray head- and neck-patches in dark surroundings. Adult 9 ? ii^ 

 winter: Head and neck mostly white; top of head and isolated auricular patch dusky, and 

 chin similarly obscured, neck below and fore parts of body dark gray, tending to form a sort 

 of loose collar; under parts broadly white; upper parts dusky-brown, nearly plain, but varied 

 on scapulars with brighter brown and gray. Ducklings in down plain brown above, with 

 light touches and a dusky stripe on sides of head; below white, with a dark band on the fore 

 breast. Northern Hemisphere, northerly, especially maritime; also on large inland waters; 

 U. S. in winter only, and then rare S. of the middle districts, but casually to South Carolina, 

 Florida and Texas ; not many California recor<ls ; breeds chiefly in high latitudes, mostly be- 

 yond the limit of trees, as in our Barren Grounds, the Siberian tundras, Greenland, Spitz- 

 bergen, and Nova Zembla. A lively, voluble Duck, called by Sunde vail melodious : ^^ Anas 

 canora, oh cantum rernalem stiavem et sononim" ; among its many curious names it has ac- 

 quired, those given from its loud three-syllabled notes are conspicuous. It is a swift, wayward 

 flier, an expert diver, and at most seasons a rank animal feeder; meat bad. Nest on ground; 

 eggs 5-9, smooth, drab-colored, more grayish or greenish as the case may be, 2.20 X 1.60, to 

 1.90 X 1.40; June, July. H. glacialis of former editions of the Key, as of most authors. 

 Clangula hyemalis of A. 0. U. Lists, 1886-95, No. 154 (by error). Harelda hyemalis A. 0. U. 

 Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 124 (see remarks anted, under genus Clangula). 

 HISTKION'ICUS. (Lat. histrionicus, histrionic, relating to histrio, a stage-player, the bird 

 being. tricked out in various colors, as if to play a part-) Harlequins. Bill very small, 

 shorter than head or tarsus, rapidly tapering to rounded tip which is wholly occupied by large 

 fused nail ; but higher than wide at base, with lateral upper corners as in Fuligulince gener- 

 ally, and convex sweep of feathers across its side intermediate in extent between frontal and 

 mental projections, former reaching farthest. A membranous lobe at base of commissure, 

 formed by production of skin of cheeks. Nostrils in basal half of bill. Wings and tail short, 

 latter pointed and about half as long as former. Longer scapulars and inner secondaries curv- 



