NATATORES. MARECA. 323 



PLATE 55.* Natural size. 



Chin and throat pale buff. Head and neck the same, but Female, 

 with spots and streaks of black, those upon the crown 

 of the head being larger and more distinct. Lower part 

 of the neck, and sides of the breast, pale yellowish- 

 brown, with blackish-brown spots. Flanks variegated 

 with yellowish-brown and blackish-brown. Upper parts 

 blackish- brown, the feathers being deeply margined with 

 reddish-white and pale yellowish-brown. Lesser wing- 

 coverts hair-brown, with the lower tier deeply tipped 

 with pale reddish-brown. The upper half of the spe- 

 culum green, with purple reflections ; the lower half 

 velvet-black, with white tips to the feathers. Quills 

 and tail hair-brown, the latter margined with white and 

 reddish- white. Legs orange. 



GENUS MARECA, STEPH. WIGEON. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



BILL shorter than the head ; higher than broad at the 

 base ; strait from before the nostrils ; flattened and narrow- 

 ing towards the tip, which is armed with a middle-sized 

 hooked nail. Mandibles laminato-dentate, with the points 

 of the laminae of the upper mandible slightly projecting, in 

 the centre of the bill, beyond the margins. 



Nostrils lateral, placed near the base of the bill, small, 

 oval, pervious. 



Wings acuminate. Tail wedge-shaped, consisting of four- 

 teen feathers, acute. 



Feet of four toes, three before, all united by a membrane ; 

 hind toe small, having a narrow web, and resting with its tip 

 on the ground. 



