518 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 





Male. 



Sp. Char. Adult male in vnnter : Head and neck plain bright rufous, abruptly defined below, 

 and becoming paler next the bill ; forehead and pileuni medially immaculate white ; a few 

 blackish feathers around the eyelids. Jugulum and sides of the breast pinkish vinaceous, the tips 

 of the feathers paler. Sides, flanks, and entire dorsal surface delicately undulated with transverse, 

 zig-zag bars of black and pure white, the liars of the latter rather the narrower. Wing-coverts ini- 



macidate pure white, except the anterior portion of the 

 lesser-covert region, which is deep cinereous ; last row 

 of coverts tipped with velvety black ; tertials velvety 

 black, shafted and edged with pure white ; the lower 

 (Jiie with the entire lower web pure white. Speculum 

 soft metallic green on the anterior half or two thirds, 

 the terminal portion velvety black. Primaries plain 

 cinereous. Tail-coverts (both upper and lower) deep 

 black, with a very faint bluish gloss ; rest of the lower 

 parts immaculate white. Tail-feathers dark cinereous, 

 edged with ashy white. Bill " light grayish blue, with 

 the tip, including the unguis, black;" iris '"hazel 

 brown ; '" legs and feet " light grayish blue " (Macgil- 

 livrat). 



Wing, 10.00-11.00 inches ; culmen, 1.35-1.45 ; tar- 

 sus, 1.45-1.60 ; middle toe, 1.65-1.75. 



Adult female : " Much smaller and differently col- 

 ored. The bill, iris, and feet, however are as in the 

 male. The head and upper neck are yellowish red, 

 with small greeni.sh black spots, the feathers being 

 barred with that color, of which there is more on the upper part of the head. The feathers 

 of the upper parts in general are dusky brown, edged with brownish red or whitish, and barred 

 with the same. The wings are dusky gray ; the coverts in the part which is white in the male 

 tipped with that color, the secondary coverts with an indication of a dark ternunal bar ; the 

 speculum grayish, without lustre ; the inner secondaries marked somewhat as in the male, but 

 with dark gray in place of black. The tail-feathers brownish gray, edged with lirownish white. On 

 the lower forepart and sides of the neck the feathers are obscurely barred with reddish brown and 

 brownish gray ; the sides are similar ; the breast and abdomen white ; the feathers under the tail 

 white, barred with brown, as are the smaller lower wing-coverts ; the larger pale gray " (Macgilli- 

 vray). Length, about 19.25 inches ; extent, .32.50; wing. 10.00 ; tail, 4.00; culmen, 1.50 ; tar.sus, 

 1.50; middle toe, 1.25. Younci male: Head, neck, jugulum, sides, and flank.s, umber-brown, 

 varying to a cinnamon shade, the head and neck thickly streaked with black, and the feathers of 

 the jugulum, sides, etc., centred with dusky. Back and scapulars dusky, the feathers broadly bor- 

 dered with dull fulvous ; crissum irregularly streaked and spotted with dusky ; rump and upper 

 tail-coverts slaty brown, bordered with dull whitish. Wing as in the adult, except that the 

 coverts are dull cinereous broadly bordered with white. Lower parts, except as described, pure 

 white. 



An adult male from Alexandria, Va. (No. 29519), has the rufous of the head perfectly uniform, 

 with only a few blackish feathers immediately around the eye, and a suffusion of the same on the 

 chin ; while the pinkish of the jugulum joins the rufous of the neck. No. 1271, New York 

 market, has the sides of the head speckled minutely with greenish black, the nape and entire throat 

 clouded with the same, an<l the pinkish of the jugulum separated from the rufous of the neck by a 

 narrow indistinct collar of whitish, undulated with blackish. No. 10376, from Florida, approaches 

 still more closely to M. americana in having also the occiput spotted with black, the eye more 

 broadly surrounded with greenish, the ground-color of the cheeks nearly white, and the sides per- 

 vaded by a tinge of the pinkish of the jugulum. No. 62525, from St. Paul's Island, Alaska, is 

 most like the Alexandria specimen. 



A young male (No. 57119. Europe) has the brown of the head, neck, sides, and flanks, almost 

 chestnut ; the wing as in the adult, and the dorsal region mostly clothed with feathers of the adult 

 dress. 



