22 



black and white ; upper coverts composed of dark brown and black 

 feathers intermingled. Under wing-coverts and axillars pure white. 

 Bill and feet black ; the inner side of the tarsus is perceptibly lighter 

 than the feet. Tibia bare for about half an inch. 



Length 17 inches; wing 8; tarsus 1.40; commissure 1.65; culmen 

 1.45 J height and breadth of bill at base 0.55 ; average width of bill 

 0.55. First toe 0.30 ; second 1.48, including claw shorter than the third 

 toe without claw; third toe 1.88 without claw, longer than the outer 

 toe without claw ; outer toe 1.75. 



A female is similar, but with little trace of the peculiar wing-mark- 

 ings, both chestnut and black being wanting, and the speculum being 

 hoary-gray instead of white. Both the specimens before me are imma- 

 ture; the adults, it is presumed, will show the peculiar vermiculated 

 appearance of C. streperus. They resemble the immature condition of 

 C. streperus so closely that one description of the coloration would an- 

 swer for both species; but the C. couesi is immediately distinguished by 

 its greatly inferior size, which hardly exceeds that of a teal, the diflfer- 

 ent color of the bill and feet, and the singular discrepancy in the la- 

 mellse of the bill, which are much smaller, and one-third more numerous. 



Locality: Washington or New York Island, Fanning group. 



The discovery of this duck is highly interesting from the fact that it is 

 the second known representative of a genus that is almost world-wide in 

 its distribution. The present species is as restricted in its habitat as 

 the other is wide spread — being confined to the limited area of a coral 

 island in the mid-Pacific. 



I dedicate this species to one of our most distinguished ornithologists,. 

 Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., as a slight testimonial of regard, and in con- 

 sideration of the service which he has rendered to the science of orni- 

 thology. 



SULID^. 



SOLA LEUCOGASTEA, (Bodd.) Salv. [No. 70660]. 



Petit Fou, Buff., PL Enl., 973. 



Pelecanus leucogasler, Bodd., Tabl. PI. Enl., 57. 



Dysporus leiwogaster, Sundev., Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871, 125. 



«' Sula fiber, Linn.", Scl. & Salv., Nomencl., 124. 



Sula leucogostra, Saxv., Trans. Zool. Soc. London, ix, 1876, 496. 



Sulafusca, AuD., Birds Am., vii, 1844, 57, pi. 426. 



Sula fiber, Coues, Key N. A. Birds, 1872, 298. 



This is the Sulaf.isca of earlier American ornithologists, and the Sula ' 

 fiber of the more recent writers ; but, according to late authorities, the 



b 



