The Wood-Ducks. 145 



much spotted and mottled with black. 

 The lower neck, the sides of the breast, 

 and the breast itself, are glossy black. 

 The abdomen and the sides of the body 

 are dull chestnut-brown, the under tail- 

 coverts dusky rufous. The mantle, the 

 upper scapulars, the back, rump and the 

 upper tail-coverts are dark olive-brown, 

 each feather margined with metallic black. 

 The lower scapulars are plain olive-brown. 

 The upper wing-coverts are white except 

 the lower series, the feathers of which are 

 slaty-blue at base, and black at the tip, 

 the slaty-blue portions being concealed 

 by the white coverts, and the black tips 

 forming a broad band across the wing. 

 The primaries are blackish. The outer 

 secondaries are brown on the inner web, 

 slaty-blue on the outer. The secondary 

 next to these has a portion of the outer 

 web white with a black margin. The 

 inner and longer secondaries are olive- 

 brown. The tail is dark brown. The 

 axillaries are pure white, and the under 

 wing-coverts almost entirely white. 



The female apparently differs from the 

 male in having the breast of the same 

 chestnut-brown as the abdomen. 



Male : length about 32 ; wing nearly 

 15 ; tail about 6|. The female is smaller 



VOL. II. lo 



