184 



AN A TIDE. 



The whole length sixteen inches. From the carpal joint 

 to the end of the wing seven inches and three-quarters ; the 

 first quill-feather the longest. 



Females are smaller than males, and have the whole of the 

 head brown, with darker spots and lines ; over the eye an 

 indication of a light band of pale brown ; back, scapulars, 

 and tertials dark brown, with ferruginous edges and white 

 tips ; wing-coverts brown ; speculum dull, between two bars 

 of white ; chin white ; breast varied with two shades of 

 brown, on a surface of greyish -white ; sides and flanks pale 

 brown, varied with darker brown. 



Young males, as usual, resemble females in their first 

 plumage, attaining their sexual distinctions after their first 

 moult. 



The windpipe of the Garganey is about seven inches in 

 length, the tube slightly enlarged towards the bottom ; in 

 the form of the bony enlargement it is, however, quite dis- 

 tinct from that of any other species I am acquainted with. 

 It is nearly oval, and placed perpendicularly, so as to appear 

 like a continuation of the tracheal tube, rather than as an 

 appendage to it ; the enlargement is not on the left side, as 

 in other species, but in the front, and the bronchial tubes 

 come off from the flattened inner surface which lies upon the 

 oesophagus. The voice, as noticed by Mr. Selby, is said to 

 be a low hoarse croak. 



