52 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



than half the wing), much graduated, consisting of fourteen feathers. Plumage of the sexes very 

 different, the male very handsomely marked, the female very sombre. 



i mm 



ih 



But a single species of this well-marked genus is known. This, the well-known Harlequin 

 Duck, is common to both continents of the northern hemisphere, where it inhabits chiefly high 

 latitudes. 



Histrionicus minutus. 



THE HARLEQUIN DUCK. 



Anas histrionica, Linn. S. N. cd. 10, I. 1758, 127; ed. 12, I. 1766, 204. — Wils. Am. Orn. VIII. 



1814, 139, pi. 72, fig. 4. 

 FuJlijula (Clangida) histrionica, Bonap. Synop. 1828, 394. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 448. 

 Fuligula kistrionica, Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 612 ; V. 1839, 617 ; Synop. 1839, 617 ; B. Am. VI. 



1843, 374, pi. 409. 

 Clangula torquata, Breiim, Vogelf. 1855, 385. 

 Histrionicus torquatus, Bonap. Compt. Rend. XLIII. 1S5C. — Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 798 ; Cat. 



N. Am. B. 1859, no. 596. — Coubs, Key, 1S72, 291 ; Check List, 1873, no. 510 ; B. N. W. 1874, 



578. 

 Anas minula, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 127 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 204 (9). 

 Histrionicus minutus. DRESSER, Birds of Europe (in text). — CoUES, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, V. Apr. 



1S80, 101; Check List, 2d ed. 18S2, no. 730. — Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 622. 



Hab. Northern North America ; south in winter to the Middle States and California ; breed- 

 ing south to Newfoundland, the Northern Rocky Mountains, and in the Sierra Nevada to lat. 38° 

 or farther. 



Sp. Char. Adult male : Entire loral region, continued back, from its. upper part, in a stripe 

 on each side of the crown, an oval spot over the ears, a stripe of a little more than an inch in 

 length down each side of the nape, a narrow collar completely encircling the lower neck, a broad 

 bar across each side of the breast, the middle portion (longitudinally) of the outer scapulars, tbe 

 greater part of the tertials, a spot near the tip of the greater wing-coverts, and a small spot on each 

 side of the crissum, at the base of the tail, white. A broad longitudinal stripe on each side of the 

 crown and occiput, with entire sides and flanks, bright rufous. Head and neck, except as described, 

 dark plumbeous, with a faint violaceous cast, becoming gradually black along the border of the 

 white markings ; pileum with a mesial stripe of blue-black extending from the base of the cul- 

 men to the occiput. Back, jugulum, and sides of the breast bluish plumbeous, the white collar 



