BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK. 377 



of the neck, bluish-black, tinged with rich purple and 

 green ; behind the eye, on the ear-coverts, and thence 

 upwards to the crown of the head, and backwards to the 

 occiput, a triangular patch of pure white ; the feathers of 

 the head elongated forming a crest which is elevated at 

 pleasure ; lower part of the neck white ; back, rump, and 

 tertials black ; scapulars, wing- coverts, and secondaries 

 white ; primaries greyish-black ; tail-coverts and tail-fea- 

 thers pale ash-grey ; breast, belly, and all the under surface 

 of the body white ; legs, toes, and membranes yellow. 

 Whole length fifteen inches. From the carpal joint to 

 the end of the longest quill-feather six inches and three- 

 quarters. 



The female is smaller than the male ; the head and neck 

 ash-brown, with a patch of white behind the eye ; upper 

 part of the back greyish-brown, lower part black ; wing- 

 coverts, primaries, and tertials dark greyish-brown ; se- 

 condaries white ; tail ash-grey; breast and belly dull 

 white ; vent and under tail-coverts greyish- white ; legs and 

 toes bluish-black : whole length thirteen inches ; wing six 

 inches and one-quarter. Young males in the first autumn 

 resemble females. 



The trachea, described by Mr. Audubon, " is five inches 

 long, much flattened, its rings unossified, its diameter at the 

 top two lines and three-quarters, towards the lower part 

 three lines, having scarcely any appearance of dilatation at 

 the part which is so excessively enlarged in the Golden- 

 Eyed Duck, which, in form and habits, is yet very closely 

 allied." 



The specimens from which the figure and descriptions 

 here given were derived, were obligingly lent me for my 

 use in this work by Mr. Joseph Clarke of Saffron Walden. 



