THE CANt a^SS-BACK DUCK. 147 



the former dusky at the tips ; tail, very short, pointed, con. 

 fisting of fourteen feathers of a hoary brown ; vent and tail- 

 eoverts, black j lining of the wing, white ; legs and feet, 

 very pale ash, the latter three inches in width — a circum- 

 stance which partly accounts for its great powers of swim- 

 ming. 



The female is somewhat less than the male, and weighs 

 two pounds and three-quarters; the crown is blackish- 

 brown ; cheeks and throat, of a pale drab ; neck, dull 

 brown ; breast, as far as the black extends on the male, 

 dull brown, skirted in places with pale drab ; back, dusky 

 white, crossed with fine waving lines; belly, of the same 

 dull white, pencilled like the back; wings, feet, and bill, 

 &s in the male; tail-coverts, dusky; vent, white, waved 

 with brown. 



The windpipe of the male has a large, flattish, concave 

 labyrinth, the ridge of which is covered with a thin, trans- 

 parent membrane ; where the trachea enters thif , it is very 

 uarrow, but immediately above swells to throe times that 

 diameter. The intestines are wide, and measuie five feet ia 



'iDDgth 



