222 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



breast, ashy brown, broadly skirted with whit- 

 ish; back, dark ash, with little or no appear- 

 ance of white penciling ; wings, bill and feet 

 nearly alike in both sexes. The male of this 

 species has a large, flat, bony labyrinth on the 

 bottom of the wind-pipe, very much like that of 

 the canvass-back, but smaller ; over one of its 

 concave sides is spread an exceeding thin, 

 transparent skin or membrane. The intestines 

 are of great width, and measure six feet in 

 length." 



After the red-head we have the bald-pate, or 



AMERICAN WIDGEON. 



ANAS AMERICANA. 



Description, " The widgeon, or bald -pate, 

 measures twenty-two inches in length, and 

 thirty inches in extent ; the bill is of a slate 

 color; the nail, black; the front and crown, 

 cream colored, sometimes nearly w r liite, the 

 feathers inflated ; from the eye, backwards to 

 the middle of the neck behind, extends a band 

 of deep glossy green, gold, and purple ; throat, 

 chin, and sides of the neck before, as far as the 

 green extends, dull yellowish white, thickly 

 speckled with black; breast arid hind part of 



