254 WESTERN DUCK. 



the first quill longest ; secondaries short, broad, roxinded, the inner 

 elongated, lanceolate, and decurved, as are the scapulars. Tail rather 

 short, pointed, of fourteen feathers. 



Bill dull greyish-blue, as are the feet, the claws yellowish-grey. The 

 upper part of the head and a broad band surrounding the neck are 

 white ; the throat ; some feathers around the eye are black ; a light 

 green patch in the loral space, and a transverse patch of the same on 

 the nape, margined behind and laterally with black. A broad band on 

 the neck and the whole of the back is velvet-black, with green reflec- 

 tions ; the smaller wing-coverts white ; the secondary coverts bluish- 

 black, terminating in a broad white band ; the elongated secondaries 

 and scapulars with the inner web white, the outer black with blue re- 

 flections ; the primaries and coverts brownish-black, the tail black, as 

 are the lower tail-coverts and abdomen ; the rest of the lower parts 

 deep reddish-buff, fading toward the shoulders and neck into pure 

 white ; there is a bluish-black spot on each side of the lower part of 

 the neck anterior to the wing. 



Length to end of tail 16 inches ; bill along the ridge y ^ ; wing from 

 flexure 8f ; tail 4 ; tarsus 1^^ ; inner toe and claw 1^ ; middle toe and 

 claw 2^ ; outer toe and claw 2\ ; breadth of unguis of upper man- 

 dible f ; breadth of bill at base f . 



