HARLEQUIN DUCK. 



LORD AND LADV. 

 HlSTRIONICUS HISTRIONICUS. 



Char. Male : upper parts chiefly bluish black, the wings varied with 

 white; wing-patch purple; stripes of white on head, neck, and breast; 

 stripes of chestnut on sides of crown ; breast and belly grayish brown, 

 sides chestnut ; bill bluish black ; legs and feet leaden blue. Length 

 about 17 inches. The female smaller and of a general grayish brown 

 color above ; band of white around base of bill ; belly dull white. 



A^est. Usually on the ground close to a stream, — sometimes in a hol- 

 low tree ; made of grass and sedges and lined with feathers. 



Eggs. 6-10 ; warm cream color, often tinged with olive ; 2.30 X 1.70. 



This singularly marked and beautiful species is almost 

 a constant resident of the hyperboreal regions of the north- 

 ern hemisphere, from which it migrates but short distances 

 towards more temperate latitudes, and is, as in Europe, a rare 



