514 patagonian expeditions: zoology. 



General description : 



Size. — Adult male. 



Total length, 26.00 inches. 



Wing, 10.5 inches. 



Culmen, 2.0 inches. 



Tail, 5.5 inches. 



Tarsus, 2.1 inches. 



The adult female is somewhat smaller than the male, but similar in 

 color. 



Color. — Adults in breeding plumage. 



General color : Black or dark shining green above ; from the chest back- 

 ward, white below. 



Head : Black with steel-blue gloss ; there is a small white spot on the 

 ear-coverts ; long, white, filamentous feathers are scattered irregularly over 

 the ground color of the head. There is a crest of feathers on the forehead, 

 fan-shaped from the front view. 



Neck: Black with deep steel-blue gloss, and with the same sparse white 

 feathers appearing. 



Back: Interscapular region dull glossy sage green, each feather indis- 

 tinctly margined with a darker shade of the same color, giving a scaled 

 appearance to the whole ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts black, 

 with a strong gloss of deep steel-blue. There is here as on the head and 

 neck an admixture of long, narrow, white feathers. 



Tail : Black, shaded with dull brownish. Twelve feathers. 



Wings : Scapulars and wing-coverts, exposed surfaces of the second- 

 aries and tertials, dull sage-green, with an indistinct shading of a darker 

 tone, making an undefined margin to each feather. Primaries blackish 

 with a dull brown shading. 



Lower parts : Flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts, as well as the throat, 

 black with a strong gloss of deep steel-blue ; the rest of the under parts 

 pure shining white. In all the dark parts there is a scattered admixture 

 of long, narrow white feathers. 



Bill : Deep yellow ; the carunculations and eyelids shading into blood 

 red. 



Feet: Yellow shaded with brownish. 



Iris : Dull reddish brown. In the non-breeding season brown of vary- 

 ing shade ; in young birds grey. 



