ANATID.E — TRK SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS, 169 



8p. Cbab. Adult male: Head and upper h.alf of the neck f?lossy blu8-black. with re - 

 llections of green, blue, and violet, aceordine to tlio light ; a somewhat wedge-shaped vor- 

 tical patch of white across the anterior half of the lores, bordering the lateral baso of the 

 bill, the upper part forming an acute angli- on each side of the forehead, the lower part 

 rounded. Upper jiarts velvety black, with a soft bluish violet ting > ; outer row of scapulars 

 marked with a mesial ouneate stripe u£ satiny white, the greater portion of the stripes con- 

 cealed, so that the exposed portion forms roundish or oblong spots; middle wing-coverts 

 white, producing a broad bar: exposed terminal half of greater coverts, with the whole of 

 the exposed portion of the five or six inner secondaries, white, forming a large, somewhat 

 ouneate. patch. Outer feathers of the sides and Hanks widely edged exteriorly with deep 

 black; femoral region and sides of crissum dull black. Lowor half of neck (all round) and 

 entire lower parts (except as described) pure white. Bill black (in skin) ; iris bright yellow ; 

 legs and feet pale. Adult female: Head and upper half of the neck dark scpia-brown. 

 considerably darker and somewhat more purplish than in the female (!. clang ula ame.ri- 

 cann; lower part of the neck, all round, white, sometimes tinged with gray on the nape. 

 Upper parts dark grayish brown, the scapulars, interscapulars, and smaller wing-coverts 

 tipped with lighter ash-gray; last two or tln-ee rows of middle wing-coverts tipped with 

 white, forming a broken, rathernarrow. transverse patcli; greater coverts with the ter- 

 minal half of their exposed portion white, as in the male, but distinctly tippped with black- 

 ish, forming a conspicuous dusky bar between the white of the coverts and that of tho in- 

 ner secondaries. Chest and sides ash-gray, the feathers darker and more uniform, the 

 flanks darker; other lower parts pure white. Bill usually parti-colored (black and yellow), 

 but sometimes wholly black. 



Adult male: Wing, 9.00-!1.40 inches: culmen, 1.65-1.80; depth of bill at base, 95-1.10, width, 

 .75-.85; tarsus, 1.. 50-1. 60; middle toe, 2. -15-2. 50. Adult female: Wing, 8.25-8.75 inches: cul- 

 men, 1.40-1.60; depth of bill. .85- 90; width, .70; tarsus, 1.30-1.60; middle toe, 2.15-2.20. 



Bearina; iu mind tlie salient points of difference, as given above 

 and on page 166, there need be no difficulty in distinguishing the 

 adult male of this very distinct s[)ecies from that of the com- 

 m-^n Golden-eye. With the female, however, the ca.se is very dif- 

 fenut; the two species being so much alike that, with the series 

 at our command (about twenty specimens, including six un- 

 (]ue.stionably referable to G. idandicd) , we must acknowledge 

 our inability to give infallible points of distinction. The ex. 

 ainples which are known to rejiresent G. islntullca differ from 

 the positively determined females of G.' clangula amcricana in 

 the following respects: (1) The color of the head and upper 

 half of the neck is considerably darker, being a rich sepia- or 

 Huuff-brown, rather than grayish brown; (2) the greater wing- 

 coverts are distinctly tijiped with black, forming a conspicuous 

 dusky strijie between the two larger white areas of the wing, 

 which in G. (■Idngnln, <imcricmui are (usually, at least) niergiMJ 

 into one continnmis space. Further than these we find no dis- 

 tinction, while indf'tnJ some examples are so decidedly- inter- 

 mediate in both r(;si)octs as to reiid(!r it (]iiit(! uncertain to 



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