QUEKQUEDULA EATOXI. 5 



A riitber small duck, the sexes of which difter but little (chiefly iu the vividness of 

 the alar speculum). Head and neck minutely speckled with blackish-brown and light- 

 brown or brownish-white — the top of the head darkest, the sides of the head, the neck, 

 and especially throat lightest. Upper parts brownish-black ; all the feathers broadly 

 skirted with rusty-brown and pale-gray. Under parts dull whitish, mottled through- 

 out with brown, more uniform and of a richer shade on the breast, in larger pattern on 

 the sides and crissum. Axillars white, with dark-brown cross-bars; lining of wings 

 dark-brown, with paler or white edgings of the feathers. Wing-coverts plain grayish- 

 brown, or, iu the $ , with narrow rusty-brown edgings ; the greater row of coverts 

 tipped with orange-brown, paler or whitish in the $ . Speculum iridescent green, with 

 purplish aud violet reflections, immediately bordered with bl.tck, this in turn margined 

 with white on the ends of the secondary quills. In the 9 , the green speculum is dull, 

 and tinged with brown. Primaries fuscous-brown ; tail-feathers the same, with pale 

 edges, aud irregular oblique rusty-brown markings, like broken V-shaped bars. The 

 tiiil -feathers are all lauceolate-acumiuate, aud the tail as a whole is acute. — C. 



Bill lamellate, greenish-gray at sides, black at tip and above, covered 

 with skin, and finely toothed within. Tongue fleshy, toothed on pos- 

 terior half of dorsal surface. 



Nostrils oval. 



Iris purplish-black. 



Head and neclc brown, finely mottled with white, lighter over throat. 

 In some males, the mottling varies, being finer and lighter, with green 

 reflections at sides of head. 



Plumage generally dark-brown or black, tipped with white aud mot- 

 tled with paler shades of brown. Secondaries and tertiaries of wings 

 edged with a narrow white band. Above this, in the male, is a band 



superioribus cinerascenti-brunneis, majoribus pallid^ badio terminatis, fasciam alarem 

 formantibus; remigibus cinerascenti-brunneis, secnndariis extils purpureo bronzinis 

 albido terminatis, speculum alarem bronzinum vix sub certS, luce olivasconte nitentem ex- 

 hibentibus: secundario proximo nigricante vel aspectu externo viride nitente, medialiter 

 cinerascente strigato, albo apicato : secundariis interioribus nigricantibus extiis pallid^ 

 brunnescentibus albo limbatis: rectricibus mediis nigricantibus, reliquis brunneis albo 

 marginatis, nonnullis rufescenti-fulvo notatis : tectricibus subalaribus brunneis, inferi- 

 oribus intimis et axillaribus albis brunneo maculatis, tectricibus majoribus cinerascenti- 



