RED-NECKED GAUL1N. 339 



River, on the 25th of November. The immense 

 morass through which it flows, looking like a sea of 

 rushes, relieved here and there by clumps of the tall 

 and slender palmetto, affords shelter and sustenance 

 to immense numbers of aquatic birds, in common 

 with Black River, of which this is a main branch. 

 Of this species of Gaulin, which is not remarkable 

 for beauty, the only specimen, besides, that I met 

 with, was shot by Sam, at Bluefields Creek, on 

 the 7th of May. Both individuals had been feed- 

 ing on a small species of Gobius, called mud-fish. 



Though birds which feed exclusively on animal 

 matters are ordinarily marked by the shortness 

 of the intestinal canal, the tribe before us forms 

 a remarkable exception to this rule; while the body 

 of this bird was less than four inches in length, the 

 intestine measured seventy-two inches. The neck is 

 more than usually long in this species. 



It is doubtless a permanent resident in the Is- 

 land. 



feet dull pea-green. Crown, cheeks, and neck pale brick- red, mingled 

 with dark grey feathers. Back ashy-grey, with pale reddish tips ; sca- 

 pulars and quills blue-grey ; coverts grey with red tips, almost wholly red 

 towards the edge of the wing. Rump and tail-coverts white. Tail dark 

 grey. Chin, throat, and whole under parts yellowish-white, but down the 

 front of neck an irregular series of rufous feathers, forming dashes on the 

 white ; and a few blackish feathers on the breast. 



