378 



NATATORES. MERGUS. 



GOOSANDER. 



General 

 descrip. 

 tion. 



Male. 



Female. 



Young. 



Bill, from the angle of the forehead, two inches and three- 

 eighths long; black above and below, with the sides 

 vermilion-red ; the edges armed with sharp conical 

 teeth, pointing backwards, and the palate with two 

 acute serrated ridges. Legs and feet rich orpiment- 

 orange, changing after death into red. Irides arterial 

 blood-red. Head and upper part of neck glossy black- 

 ish-green; the feathers on the crown and nape being 

 long, silky, and tumid. Lower part of the neck, breast, 

 under parts, lesser and medial wing-coverts (except 

 those nearest to the shoulder), tips of the greater co- 

 verts, secondary quills, and outer scapulars, rich buff- 

 orange. Mantle, inner scapulars, humeral wing-coverts, 

 bastard wing, greater quills, and narrow margins of the 

 long tertials, velvet black. Back and tail deep grey, 

 inclining upon the latter to clove-brown. Behind the 

 thighs, and on the sides of the rump, white, undulated 

 with fine zigzag curved lines of blackish-brown. 



Head and upper part of the neck pale reddish-brown ; in- 

 clining upon the crown to liver-brown ; the crest long 

 and pendant, formed of slender feathers. Chin and throat 

 white. Lower part of the neck, breast, and sides grey- 

 ish-white, undulated with pale clove-brown. Belly and 

 abdomen white, with a tinge of buff. Upper parts deep 

 bluish-grey, tinged with clove-brown. Tips of the 

 greater coverts, and anterior half of the secondaries, 

 white, forming a speculum of that colour upon the 

 wings. Lesser coverts bluish-grey. Bill black above 

 and below, with the sides dingy vermilion-red. Legs 

 and feet orange. 



The young males, until after the second moult, are simi- 

 lar to the old female bird, and can only be distinguished 

 by dissection. In assuming the adult garb, they begin 

 by shewing the blackish-green feathers upon the head 

 and upper part of the neck. 



