64 POCHARD. 



with black; the yellow colour giving place to the grey, and 

 the part becoming darker as the bird attains maturity; the 

 feathers about the vent are in the immature birds white at 

 the sides, and freckled with dark grey in the centre, the 

 youngest bird also exhibiting in this part a good deal of 

 yellowish brown; in the adult entirely of dark grey; the 

 legs and toes, dark bluish grey; the webs and claws, black. 

 The total length of Mr. Bartlett's bird was seventeen inches 

 and a half. 



This species may be distinguished from 'Fuligula ferina' 

 externally, by its smaller size; the much smaller space occupied 

 by the black colour at the base of the bill; the yellowish 

 colour of the irides; the greater extent of the dark colour 

 on the breast, which reaches further both upwards and 

 downwards, than in the common species, and is, I think, at 

 no age in such strong contrast with the colour of the neck 

 and head, and by the purple tint and finer texture of the 

 neck and breast feathers, by the white bar on the wing, 

 and by the much darker tint of the freckled parts. 



Internally, the eye, when removed from the head, was, in 

 Mr. Gurney's bird, found to be considerably larger than that 

 of 'Fuligula ferina.' 



Mr. Fisher, however, has recently, in a letter to me, ex- 

 pressed his doubt whether the bird is not a variety between 

 two species, and such I think it to be. I have endeavoured 

 to give a concise and clear view of the different accounts 

 and opinions, which, at first sight, must seem to a casual 

 reader to be somewhat confused. It appears on the whole 

 to be concluded that the supposed new species must be 

 assigned to the 'Index Expurgatorius.' 



