232 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



marked with two narrow white hnes — one of which ter- 

 minates behind the eye^ the other extends over the eye 

 to the bill : the sides of the neck are purplish red, 

 changing on the front of the neck and sides of the 

 breast to brown, and there spotted with white : the 

 scapulars, wings, and tail exhibit various beautiful re- 

 flections of duck-green, purple, blue, and velvet- black : 

 the interscapulars, lower part of the back, rump, and 

 upper tail covers are blackish green and dark purple ; 

 but several of the lateral covers are reddish orange : on 

 each side of the rump is a splendid reddish purple tuft; 

 but the under covers are brown : the chin, throat, mid- 

 dle of the breast, and the whole of the abdomen, together 

 with a collar round the neck, and a crescent-shaped bar 

 on the ears, are all pure white : the flanks are delicately 

 undulated with black lines upon a yellowish grey ground ; 

 the tips of the longest feathers, and also those on the 

 shoulders, being broadly barred with white and black : 

 inner wing covers white, barred with brown. Nearly all 

 the coloured parts of the plumage are glossed with 

 metallic tints : the bill is red ; the space between the 

 nostrils, the tip, the margins, and the whole of the 

 lower mandible being black : the legs and irides are of a 

 rich orange. The female differs but little from the male: 

 the crest is shorter, and the colours of the plumage are 

 less vivid ; the flanks are not undulated, and the tufts 

 on the sides of the rump are wanting. 



According to Mr. Abbot, who communicated many of 

 his observations on the birds of Georgia to Dr. Latham, 

 the summer duck is very common there, and in Louisi- 

 ana, the whole winter, and sometimes breeds there. He 

 mentions a very singular faculty possessed by the young, 

 which admirably illustrates its analogy to the rasorial, 

 and consequently to the scansorial, type of nature ; for, 

 says he, '' if you put the young into a tub, they will 

 climb out by means of the hill and feet." This species 

 is stated to inhabit Mexico and some of the West Indian 

 islands : this is probable, but we can find no proper 

 authority for these localities. 



