BIMACULATED DUCK. 167 



rare species in the Natural History Catalogues of the Russian 

 Expeditions towards the Caucasus. 



The following is Mr. Selby''s description of the adult male, 

 taken from the specimen. " Bill blackish-grey, passing to- 

 wards the base and edges into orange -yellow. Front, crown, 

 and occiput, very deep reddish-brown, glossed with purplish- 

 black, and passing upon the hind part of the neck into deep 

 violet-purple. Between the bill and eyes, and behind the 

 ear-coverts, are two large irregular patches of chestnut-brown, 

 margined and varied with white. Sides of the neck and 

 cheeks glossy duck-green, the rest of the upper part of the 

 neck, and sides of the breast, reddish-brown, with oval black 

 spots. The middle part of the breast pale reddish-brown, 

 also spotted with black. Ground colour of the mantle pale 

 sienna-yellow, undulated with black lines. Scapulars the 

 same, tipped with glossy Scotch-blue. Wing-coverts hair- 

 brown, the lower range having pale wood-brown tips. Spe- 

 culum dark green, glossed with purple. Upper and under 

 tail-coverts greenish-black, glossed with purple. Tail wedge- 

 shaped, with the two middle feathers black, narrow, acumi- 

 nate, and much longer than the rest, which are hair-brown, 

 margined with white. Belly and abdomen yellowish-white, 

 with undulating black lines, most distinct upon the flanks. 

 Legs and feet pale orange." 



The whole length fifteen inches and three-quarters. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the wing eight inches and four 

 tenths. 



M. Temminck says that " the males of this species appear 

 to vary very much in the degree of purity of the tints of their 

 plumage, and in the colour and form of the two large spots 

 on the neck. He has seen one male bird covered in part 

 only with the variegated plumage of that sex, while all the 

 rest was like that of the female, but dotted here and there 

 with some feathers of the male. The top of the head alone 



