-BACKED POCHARD. 197 



broad space of black that covers the upper part of 

 the breast, and spreads round to the back : back, 

 scapulars, and tertials white, faintly marked with an 

 infinite number of transverse waving lines, or points, 

 as if done with a pencil ; whole lower part of the 

 breast, also the belly, white, slightly pencilled in the 

 same manner ; scarcely perceptible on the breast, pretty 

 thick towards the vent : wing-coverts grey, with nu- 

 merous specks of blackish : primaries and secondaries 

 pale slate, two or three of the latter of which nearest 

 the body are finely edged with deep velvety black ; the 

 former dusky at their tips : tail very short, pointed, 

 consisting of fourteen feathers of a hoary brown : vent 

 and tail-coverts black : lining of the wing white : legs 

 and feet very pale ash, the latter three inches in 

 width." The female, he adds, " is somewhat less 

 than the male : the crown is blackish-brown : cheeks 

 and throat of a pale drab : neck dull brown : breast, 

 as far as the black extends on the male, dull brown, 

 skirted in places with pale drab : back dusky white, 

 crossed with fine waving lines : belly of the same dull 

 white, pencilled like the back : wings, feet, and beak 

 as in the male : tail-coverts dusky: vent white, waved 

 with brown. The windpipe of the male has a large, 

 iiattish, concave labyrinth, the ridge of which is co- 

 vered with a thin transparent membrane ; where the 

 trachea enters this it is very narrow, but immediately 

 above swells to three times that diameter." 



These birds arrive in the United States from the 

 north about the middle of October, frequenting the 

 large rivers, where a particular kind of grass-like plant 

 is in plenty, upon the roots of which they feed : upon 



