NATATORES. MARECA. 323 
Priate 55.* Natural size. 
Chin and throat pale buff. Head and neck the same, but 
with spots and streaks of black, those upon the crown 
of the head being larger and more distinct. Lower part 
of the neck, and sides of the breast, pale yellowish- 
brown, with blackish-brown spots. Flanks variegated 
with yellowish-brown and blackish-brown. Upper parts 
blackish- brown, the feathers being deeply margined with 
reddish-white and pale yellowish-brown. Lesser wing- 
coverts hair-brown, with the lower tier deeply tipped 
with pale reddish-brown. The upper half of the spe- 
culum green, with purple reflections; the lower half 
_ velvet-black, with white tips to the feathers. Quills 
and tail hair-brown, the latter margined with white and 
reddish-white. Legs orange. 
Genus MARECA, SrzerH. WIGEON. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Bit shorter than the head; higher than broad at the 
base ; strait from before the nostrils; flattened and narrow- 
ing towards the tip, which is armed with a middle-sized 
hooked nail. Mandibles laminato-dentate, with the points 
of the laminz of the upper mandible slightly projecting, in 
the centre of the bill, beyond the margins. 
Nostrils lateral, placed near the base of the bill, small, 
oval, pervious. 
Wings acuminate. Tail wedge-shaped, consisting of four- 
teen feathers, acute. 
Feet of four toes, three before, all united by a membrane ; 
hind toe small, having a narrow web, and resting with its tip 
on the ground. 
ae 
~ 
Female. 
