314 NATATORES. QUERQUEDULA. PINTAIL. 



and the eggs are from eight to ten, of a bluish-white. Its 

 flesh is sweet and well- flavoured. 



General PLATE 49- represents the Male bird of the natural size. 

 ticn* 1 ^" Head, chin, and throat, dark hair-brown, glossed behind 

 Male. the ears with auricula-purple. Lower part of the neck, 



and two streaks running upwards to the hind part of 

 the head, white. Nape and back part of the neck deep 

 brown. Breast, belly, and abdomen, white. Flanks and 

 thighs with fine transverse black lines. Vent and under 

 tail-coverts velvet-black. Back beautifully marked with 

 alternate waving lines of black and greyish- white. Sca- 

 pulars black. Tertials long and acuminate, velvet-black, 

 margined with yellowish-white, or sometimes with pearl- 

 grey. Lesser wing-coverts deep smoke-grey. Larger 

 coverts tipped with pale reddish-brown. Speculum 

 blackish -bronzed green, tipped with white. Greater 

 quills hair-brown. Tail having the two middle feathers 

 elongated, acuminate, black ; and the lateral ones hair- 

 brown, margined with white. Bill, from the gape, two 

 and a quarter inches long, black. Legs and toes black 

 ish-grey. 



PLATE 51.* Fig. 2. The Female, also of the natural size. 

 Female. Forehead and crown pale chestnut-brown, streaked with 

 black. Cheeks and neck pale ochreous yellow, speckled 

 with black. Chin and throat plain cream-yellow. Sides 

 of the breast hair-brown, barred and tipped with white. 

 Mantle and scapulars amber-brown, barred and varied 

 with pale buff-orange and white. Tertials hair-brown, 

 margined with white. Lesser and greater wing-coverts 

 pale broccoli-brown, edged and tipped with white. Spe- 

 culum hair-brown, glossed with green ; the feathers ha- 

 ving white tips. Quills hair-brown. Tail deep hair- 

 brown, with imperfect bars of white and pale buff- 

 orange ; the two middle feathers exceeding the rest in 



