428 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



stunted pine-tree, and others have been observed in similar situations. It is 

 merely a hollow in the ground, lined with any vegetable refuse that may chance 

 to be near, and with an abundance of down from the body of the female. The 

 eggs are from five to eight in number, pale greyish-buff in colour, smooth, and 

 with little gloss. They measure on an average 2'3 inches in length by 1'65 inch 

 in breadth The down tufts, so far as I am aware, are still undescribed. One 

 brood only is reared in the year. 



Diagnostic characters (Nuptial plumage), (Edemia, with the 

 feathering of the head advancing much farther forward on the forehead than on 

 the lores, with the entire plumage glossy-black, except a broad patch of white on 

 the forehead and another on the nape (adult male) ; with bare swellings at the 

 base of the sides of the bill, with the frontal feathers extending about an inch 

 beyond those at the sides of the bill, and with the white nape patch indistinctly 

 defined (adult female). Length, 21 inches. 



