260 ANATID^E. 



tail-coverts white ; legs and toes pale bluisli-lead colour, the 

 webs almost black. The whole length, Avithout including 

 the elongated tail-feathers, seventeen inches : to the end of 

 the long tail-feathers twenty-two to twenty-four inches ; from 

 the carpal joint of the wing to end of the longest primary 

 nine inches ; the first and second quill-feathers nearly equal 

 and the longest in the wing. 



The winter plumage is generally perfected by the middle 

 of October : the summer plumage is assumed by the end of 

 May, and at that time only the space around the eye is pale 

 buff, mixed with a little white ; all the other parts of the 

 head, neck, back, wings, and breast black ; the scapulars and 

 tertials black, each feather with a broad edge of rufous-brown ; 

 belly, and under surface of the body white, as in winter ; bill, 

 irides, and legs the same. 



A male killed while intermediate, or in change with refer- 

 ence to the two states of plumage described, had the forehead 

 black ; top of the head and the occiput white ; cheeks brown- 

 ish-buff; all the neck mottled with black and white; scapu- 

 lars and tertials white at the base, black in the centre, and 

 reddish-brown on the margin ; secondaries distinguished from 

 the coverts and the primaries by their lighter reddish-brown 

 colour. 



Females have the forehead, crown, and back of the neck, 

 dark brown ; the lore, or space between the base of the bill 

 and the eye, the ear-coverts, and sides of the neck greyish- 

 white ; below the ear-coverts, on both sides, a patch of 

 brown ; all the back and wings dark brown ; primaries and 

 tail-feathers almost black ; neck, in front, light brown, clouded 

 with darker brown ; breast, belly, and under tail-coverts 

 white ; thighs and flanks pale ash-brown. 



Females measure about sixteen inches in length, and do 

 not assume the white scapulars or the elongated tail-feathers. 

 Young birds for the first twelve months resemble the 

 females. Young males in their first winter may be distin- 



