RECENTLY OBSERVED SPECIES. 281 



334. PLECTROPTERUS GAMBENSIS. GAMBO SPUR- 

 WINGED GOOSE. 



About the size of the Common Grey- Goose. An indivi- 

 dual shot near St. Germain's in Cornwall, in June 1821, 

 figured and described by Bewick, whose account of it is as 

 follows : " The bill is reddish-yellow, with a jointed protu- 

 berance on the base of the upper mandible. The upper 

 part of the head and neck are dingy-brown ; the auriculars 

 and sides of the throat are white, spotted with brown ; the 

 lower part of the neck, sides of the breast, and all the 

 upper plumage, appear black, but this colour is lost, parti- 

 cularly in the scapulars and tertials, which are most 

 resplendently bronzed and glossed with brilliant green, 

 and most of the outer webs of the outer feathers partake of 

 the same hue ; on the bend of the wing or wrist, is placed 

 a strong white horny spur, about five- eighths of an inch in 

 length, turning upwards, and rather inwards; the whole 

 of the edges of the wing from the alula spuria to the elbow 

 and shoulders are white, all the under parts the same. 

 This beautiful bird is nearly of the bulk of the Wild 

 Goose, but its legs and toes are somewhat longer, and of a 

 red or orange-yellow." This specimen is now in the New- 

 castle Museum. 



Anas Gambensis, Bewick, Brit. Birds, ii. 313. Spur- 

 winged Goose, Yarr. Brit. Birds,, iii. 87. 



GENUS CXXVIII. MARECA WIGEON. 

 335. MARECA AMERICANA. AMERICAN WIGEON. 



1 'The American Wigeon has been considered distinct 

 from the European ; not on account of any difference in 

 size or form, or texture of plumage, but because it has in 

 certain stages a green band on the side of the head, which 

 the European bird is said not to have. The mirror is the 

 same in both ; the wing- coverts are white or grey in both ; 

 the crown is white, or cream-coloured, or orange-brown, 

 in both ; but in the European the head and neck are de- 

 scribed as reddish-chestnut, and in the American as yel- 

 lowish-white. Now, in fact, American birds sometimes 

 have the head and neck red, and European birds sometimes 

 have the green streak on the sides of the head. In short, 



