370 ANATIDJE. 



before the wing is marked, but much smaller than in the 

 adult. The quills are dark brown, but the secondaries 

 are not tipped with white, of which there are but slight 

 indications on the scapulars. The upper tail-coverts are 

 blackish, the tail bluish-grey, lighter at the end. The bill 

 is dusky ; the feet of a Jeaden tint. The male in the 

 third year, and after his second moult, has greatly im- 

 proved in colouring, although the tints are not nearly so 

 pure as in the old bird. The hind part of the neck is 

 still brown, as are the wing-coverts ; the sides are dark 

 brownish-grey, with undulated yellowish-red bars. The 

 white collar is not yet complete, but all the white mark- 

 ings on the neck are edged with black ; the fore part of 

 the breast is dull grey, the middle yellowish-grey, spotted 

 with bluish-grey. The white bar on the wing is still 

 wanting ; the rump is glossy bluish-black, the tail nearly 

 of the same tint." 



I have never been able to obtain a specimen of the 

 windpipe of the male of this species ; it is thus described 

 by Mr. Audubon : " is six inches and a half in length, has 

 at first a breadth of only three lines, but at the distance 

 of three-quarters of an inch, enlarges to four and a half 

 lines, and so continues for two inches ; it then contracts to 

 two and a half lines, and again at the lower part enlarges 

 to five and a quarter lines, and terminates in a large trans- 

 verse bony dilatation or tympanum, of which the length is 

 seven and a half lines, the breadth one inch two lines ; it 

 projects as usual to the left side, where it is of a rounded 

 form." 



