ANAS.] AVES NATATORES 231 



DIMENS. Entire length twenty inches : length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) two inches eight lines, (from the gape) two inches eleven lines ; 

 of the tarsus one inch five lines ; of the tail four inches ; from the carpus 

 to the end of the wing nine inches: breadth, wings extended, two feet six 

 inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) Head, and upper half of the neck, deep green, 

 with glossy reflections; lower part of the neck, breast, and scapulars, 

 white; belly, abdomen, and flanks, brownish red: back, and primary 

 quills, umber-brown : lesser wing-coverts pale blue ; greater ones tipped 

 with white, forming an oblique bar across the wings and an upper border 

 to the speculum, which last is of a brilliant grass-green : rump, upper and 

 under tail-coverts, brown, glossed with blackish green ; sides of the rump 

 white : tail brown, the feathers edged with white ; the outer one wholly 

 white : bill black : irides yellow : legs orange. (Female.) Head pale red- 

 dish brown, with fine dusky streaks; rest of the upper parts dusky brown, 

 the feathers edged with reddish white : under parts reddish, with large 

 brown spots : lesser wing-coverts slightly glossed with pale blue : spe- 

 culum not so bright as in the male. Obs. During the breeding season 

 the male has a red breast, in which state it is the Red-breasted Shoveller 

 of Pennant : after the expiration of that season, he partially assumes the 

 female plumage, which is retained till the period of the autumnal moult. 

 (Egg.) White, tinged with green : long. diam. two inches two lines ; 

 trans, diam. one inch six lines. 



Not a very abundant species, but met with occasionally during the 

 winter months, principally in the eastern parts of the country. A few 

 pairs are said to remain and breed in the marshes in Norfolk. Nest 

 placed near the water's edge amongst aquatic herbage. Eggs twelve 

 to fourteen in number. Food, worms and aquatic insects. 



(2. CHAULIODUS, Swains.) 



239. A. Strepera, Linn. (Gadwall.) Back, breast, 

 scapulars and flanks, dusky brown, marked with undulating 

 white lines: speculum white. 



A. Strepera, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 837. Gadwall, Mont. 

 Orn. Diet. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 348. Common Gadwall, 

 Selb. Illust. vol. ii. p. 301. pi. 51, & pi. 49*. f. 1. Gould, Europ. 

 Birds, part viii. (Trachea,) Linn. Trans, vol. iv. pi. 13. f. 7, & 8. 



DIMENS. Entire length twenty inches : length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) one inch nine lines, (from the gape) two inches ; of the tarsus 

 one inch six lines ; of the tail three inches five lines ; from the carpus to 

 the end of the wing ten inches seven lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) Head and neck grayish white, speckled with 

 brown; lower part of the neck, breast, and back, clove-brown, marked 

 with crescent-shaped white lines; scapulars and flanks undulated with 

 white and blackish brown ; middle wing-coverts chestnut-brown ; greater 

 coverts, rump, and upper and under tail-coverts, black, glossed with pur- 

 plish blue : speculum white : belly and abdomen white, minutely speckled 

 with grayish brown: tail cinereous, edged with white: bill brownish 

 black, pale beneath : legs orange. (Female.) Not very dissimilar to the 

 male, but with the undulating lines and crescent-shaped bars less dis- 

 tinctly marked. (Young of the year.) " Of a uniform rusty brown above, 

 each feather having a central mark of dusky black ; the under surface 

 white." GOULD. (Egg.) "Greenish ash-colour." TEMM. 



