378 NATATORES. MERGUS. GoosANDER. 
General Bill, from the angle of the forehead, two inches and three- 
descrip- i : : 
tion. eighths long; black above and below, with the sides 
Male. vermilion-red ; the edges armed with sharp conical 
teeth, pointing backwards, and the palate with two 
acute serrated ridges. Legs and feet rich orpiment- 
orange, changing after death into red. Irides arterial 
blood-red. Head and upper part of neck glossy black- 
ish-green ; the feathers on the crown and nape being 
long, silky, and tumid. Lower part of the neck, breast, 
under parts, lesser and medial wing-coverts (except 
those nearest to the shoulder), tips of the greater co- 
verts, secondary quills, and outer scapulars, rich buff 
orange. Mantle, inner scapulars, humeral wing-coverts, 
bastard wing, greater quills, and narrow margins of the 
long tertials, velvet black. Back and tail deep grey, 
inclining upon the latter to clove-brown. Behind the 
thighs, and on the sides of the rump, white, undulated 
with fine zigzag curved lines of blackish-brown. 
Female. | Head and upper part of the neck pale reddish-brown ; in- 
clining upon the crown to liver-brown; the crest long 
and pendant, formed of slender feathers. Chin and throat 
white. Lower part of the neck, breast, and sides grey- 
ish-white, undulated with pale clove-brown. Belly and 
abdomen white, with a tinge of buff. Upper parts deep 
bluish-grey, tinged with clove-brown. Tips of the 
greater coverts, and anterior half of the secondaries, 
white, forming a speculum of that colour upon the 
wings. Lesser coverts bluish-grey. Bill black above 
and below, with ‘the sides dingy vermilion-red. Legs 
and feet orange. 
Young. The young males, until after the second moult, are simi- 
lar to the old female bird, and can only be distinguished 
by dissection. In assuming the adult garb, they begin 
by shewing the blackish-green feathers upon the head 
and upper part of the neck. 
