General 
descrip- 
tion. 
Male. 
Female. 
Young. 
342 NATATORES. SOMATERIA. Erper. 
fection till after two or three years, endowed with singular 
length of life. The flesh of this species in the natural state, 
from the kind of food they subsist on, is very unpalatable ; 
but would probably, under a different diet, lose its rank and 
fishy flavour. 
Pirate 70. Represents the Adult Male of the natural size. 
Base of the bill and frontal plates honey-yellow, passing 
towards the nostrils and tip into oil-green; nail of the 
bill large, strong, vaulted, and of a yellowish-white. 
Frontlets, and upper part of the head, enclosing the eyes, 
Scotch-blue, divided from the crown backwards by a 
white band. On the nape and sides of the upper part 
of the neck is a large patch of pistachio-green, the fea- 
thers being fine, truncated, and silky, capable of being 
raised to form a ruff. Cheeks, throat, and lower part 
of the neck, white. Breast cream-yellow, with a vivaceous 
or purple tinge. Back, scapulars, and tertials white, 
tinged with straw-yellow, the latter acuminated and 
curled over the wings. Wing-coverts white. Rump, 
belly, abdomen, and vent black. Tail greyish-black. 
Legs honey-yellow, tinged with green. 
Pate 70 *. Represents the Female of the natural size, from 
a beautiful specimen killed in February, after the com- 
pletion of the autumnal moult, and at which time the 
colours are deeper and brighter than at a more advanced 
period of the year. 
Head and neck yellowish-brown (deepest upon the crown), 
and streaked with dusky. Plumage of the upper parts 
of the body a mixture of black, rich brown, and grey. 
Under parts brown, with darker undulations. Bill and 
legs deep greenish-grey. 
The young males resemble the female till upwards of a 
year old, after which period they acquire a little white 
upon the head and cheeks, and the lower part of the 
