RED-HEADED DUCK. 201 
of moderate length, rather thick. Body full, depressed. Wings small. 
Feet very short, strong, placed rather far behind ; tarsus very short, 
compressed, anteriorly with narrow scutella continuous with those of 
the middle toe, and having another series commencing half-way down 
and continuous with those of the outer toe, the rest reticulated with 
angular scales. Hind toe small, with an inner expanded margin or 
web; middle toe nearly double the length of the tarsus, outer a little 
shorter. Claws small, compressed, that of the first toe very small and 
curved, of the third toe larger and more expanded than the rest. 
Plumage dense, soft, blended. Feathers of the upper part of the 
- head small and rather compact, of the rest of the head and neck small, 
blended, and glossy. Wings shortish, narrow, pointed; primary quills 
strong, tapering, the first longest, the second almost as long, the rest 
rapidly diminishing; secondary quills broad and rounded, the inner 
elongated and tapering. ‘Tail very short, much rounded, or wedge- 
shaped, of fourteen feathers. 
Bill light greyish-blue, with a broad band of black at the end, and 
a dusky patch anterior to the nostrils. Iris orange-yellow. Head and 
neck all round, for more than half its length of a rich brownish-red, 
glossed with carmine above. A broad belt of brownish-black occupies 
the lower part of the neck, and the fore part of the body, of which the 
posterior part is of the same colour, more extended on the back 
than under the tail. Back and scapulars pale greyish-white, very mi- 
nutely traversed by dark brownish-grey lines; the sides and abdomen 
similar, the undulations gradually fading away into the greyish-white 
of the middle of the breast; upper wing-coverts brownish-grey, the 
feathers faintly undulated with whitish toward the end. Primary 
quills brownish-grey, dusky along the outer web and at the end ; secon- 
daries ash-grey, narrowly tipped with white, the outer faintly tinged 
with yellow, and almost imperceptibly dotted with whitish, four or five 
of the inner of a purer tint tinged with blue, and having a narrow 
brownish-black line along the margin; the innermost like the scapulars 
but more dusky. ‘Tail brownish-grey, towards the end lighter. Axillar 
feathers and lower wing-coverts white. Feet dull greyish-blue, the 
webs dusky, the claws black. 
Length to end of tail 20 inches, to end of wings 182, to end of claws 
22; extent of wings 33; wing from flexure 9,4,; tail 2,8; bill along 
the ridge 2, from the tips of the frontal processes 2;4, ; tarsus 14, first toe 
