KALLID^E. 451 



certainly an ornament to a pond. The beak is 

 bright yellow at the tip, the base and a bare patch 

 on the forehead bright sealing-wax red ; the head, 

 neck all round, breast and belly dark lead-grey ; the 

 back, scapulars, rump, wing-coverts and tertials 

 olive-brown ; primary quills dark dusky, with a 

 narrow white streak on the outer web of the first ; 

 tail-feathers dark dusky, nearly black; the flanks 

 the same as the rest of the under parts, but tinged 

 with olive-brown and with a few distinct elongated 

 patches of white ; under tail-coverts white on the 

 sides, black in the middle ; the legs and toes greenish 

 yellow, becoming almost bright yellow in the spring, 

 especially on the fore part, there is a small red mark 

 immediately below the feathers on the thigh ; the 

 claws greenish horn. The young bird of the year has 

 the beak greenish horn ; the red patch on the fore- 

 head is not so bright, looking rather like a raw place 

 than the bright patch on the adult ; all the upper 

 parts are dull olive-brown ; the chin is dirty white ; 

 the under parts greyish brown, inclining to white on 

 the belly and vent ; all the rest the same as the adult ; 

 legs and toes dark greenish. The young birds in their 

 down are the funniest little jet black balls with little 

 red sore-looking patches on the forehead. 



The egg is a sort of pale whitish brown ground, 

 irregularly speckled all over with reddish brown and 

 purplish brown. 



