ANATID.E — THE SWANS, GKESi:, AXU DICKS. IG'J 



8p. Char. Adnll male: Head and uppor halt of thiMiock flossy blue-black, with ro- 

 floctions or greon, blue, and violet, accordinc to the li^rht; a somewhat wedge-shaped vor- 

 tical patch of white across the anterior half of the lores, bordering the lateral base of the 

 bill, the upper part forming an acute ansl'" on each side of the forehead, the lower part 

 rounded. Upper parts velvety black, with a soft bluish violet ting ) ; outer row of scapulars 

 marked with a mesial cuneate stripe of satiny white, the greater portion of the stripes con- 

 cealed, so that the exposed portion forms roundish or oblong spots; middle wing-coverts 

 white, producing a broad bar; exposed terminal half of greater coverts, with the whole of 

 the exposed portion of the live or six inner secondaries, white, forming a large, somewhat 

 cuneate, patch. Outer feathers of the sides and flanks widely edged exteriorly with deep 

 black; femoral region and sides of crissum dull black. LoW'-'r half of neck (all round) and 

 entire lower parts (except as described) pure white. Bill black (in skin); iris bright yellow; 

 legs and feet pale. Adult female: Head and upper half of the neck dark sepia-brown, 

 considerably darker and somewhat more purplish than in the female G. clang ula ameri- 

 oann,- lower part of the neck, all round, white, sometimes tinged with gray on the nape. 

 Upper parts dark grayish brown, the scapulars, interscapulars, and smaller wing-coverts 

 tipped with lighter ash gray; last two ur thi-ee rows of middle wing-coverts tipped with 

 ■white, forming a broken, rather narrow, transverse patch; greater coverts with the ter- 

 minal half of their exposed portion white, as in the male, but distinctly tippped with black- 

 ish, forming a conspicuous tlusky bar between the white of the coverts and that of the in- 

 ner secondaries. Chest and sides a^h-gray, the feathers darker and more uniform, the 

 flanks dai'ker; other lower parts pure white. Ei 1 usually parti-colored (black and yellow), 

 but sometimes wholly black. 



Adult male: Wing, 9.00-9.40 inches: culmen, 1.C5-1.80; depth o bill at base, 95-1.10, width, 

 .75-.80; tarsus, 1.50-1.60; middle toe, 2.45-2.50. Adult female: Wing, 8.25-8.75 inches: cul- 

 men, 1.40-1.00; depth of bid, .85-:9J; width, .70; tarsus, 1.30-1.60; middle toe, 2.15-2.20. 



Beariiio- in mind tlie salient points of difference, as o-jven above 

 and on pao'e 166, there need be no ditficulty in distin<2,uishiug the 

 adult male of this very distinct species from that of the com- 

 mon Golden-e^'^e. With the female, however, the case is very dif- 

 ferent; the two species being so much alike that, with the series 

 at Oiir command (about twenty specimens, including six un- 

 questionably referable to G. islandlca), we must acknowledge 

 our inability to give infallible points of distinction. The ex- 

 amples which are known to represent G. islandlca differ from 

 the positively determined females of G. clangida ameincana in 

 the following respects: (1) The color of the head and upper 

 half of the neck is considerably darker, being a rich sepia- or 

 snuff-brown, rather than grayish brown; (2) the greater wing- 

 coverts are distinctly tipped with black, forming a conspicuous 

 dusky stripe between the two lai'ger white areas of the wing, 

 which in G. clangida amcrican^i are (usually, at least) merged 

 into one continuous space. Further than these we find no dis- 

 tinction, while indeed some examples are so decidedly inter- 

 minliate in both respects as to render it quite uncertain to 



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