120 ANATID^. 



posterior half cliiefly occupied by a nearly square black spot 

 (7 lines in diameter), in a ^setting/ as it were, of three colours ; 

 the portion of the mandible between it and the lateral base (a line 

 in breadth) being carmine-red ; that above it, gamboge-yellow ; 

 below it, white, of a pearly lustre, as it is anteriorly. Under 

 mandible white, except towards the nail, where it is orange; 

 nail, a mixture of white and brownish-orange. Legs and toes 

 deep red, inclining a little to uraiige, and blotched more or less 

 M ith black ; this latter being the colour of the webs and nails, 

 with the exception of one nail, which is white. 



" A very full description of the trachea of the surf scoter, with 

 measurements of the different portions, is given by Audubon 

 (vol. iv. p. 106), who correctly remarks, that it presents the same 

 structure as that of the velvet duck {Old. fused). 



" The specijic differences, however, seem to me worthy of being 

 figured — which, in so far as I am aware, has not yet been done — 

 and for that purpose I have made a drawing of the trachea of the 

 present specimen. This, for the sake of comparison with that of 

 the velvet duck, figured by Yarrell, has been drawn on the same 

 scale. It will be seen from my figure, that the surf scoter, as 

 well as the species just named, exhibits within the upper expan- 

 sion of the trachea " an aperture on each side," &c., as particu- 

 larly noticed in tlie case of the velvet duck by Mr. Yarrell (B. B. 

 vol. iii. p. 219, 1st edit., or p. 316, 2nd edit.).'' 



The figure alluded to, and measurements of the different parts 

 of the trachea, will be found in the 'Annals,' vol. xviii. p. 370. 



" Although the peculiar form of the trachea, as well as the 

 external characters generally, place this species next to the velvet 

 scoter, yet in the form of the bill the two species differ very con- 

 siderably. This difference has been admirably pointed out by 

 Mr. Selby in the following words : — 'In this species \Oul. per- 

 spicillata] the bill has not that flatness and expansion in front of 

 the nostrils that are so conspicuous in Oid. nigra and Oid. fusea, 

 but assumes, in a great degree, the characters of the succeeding 

 germs Somateria (Eider), by tlietip being suddenly contracted, and 

 the nail (which is also more convex than in the other species) 



