708 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIBOSTBES — ANSERES. 



296. 



wings, to sooty brown, on the flanks to chestnut-brown. A wliite i]atch between l>ill and eye, 

 curving upward and l>aeli\vard to margin tlie black coronal stripe, changing to chestnut from 

 over eye to nape. A round white spot on side of hind-head ; a long white spot on side of 

 upper neck ; a white collar around neck, interrupted or not before and behind ; a white 

 crescent on side of breast iu front of wings ; these marks black-bordered. A white spot on 

 wing-eovcrts ; a white bar across ends of greater coverts and some of the secondaries; outer 

 webs of inner secondaries mostly white ; scapulars mostly white. A white spot on each side 



of root of tail. Speculum me- 

 tallic purplish or violet. Two 

 or three years appear to be 

 required to perfect this plu- 

 mage; the $ is found in almost 

 every condition between this 

 and the plumage of the 9 ; the 

 final stage is the completion of 

 the white ring around neck and 

 white tips of secondaries. 9 '■ 

 Bill dusky; feet dull bluish- 

 gray. Iris brown, A whitish 

 spot before eye and behind ear. 

 General plumage on head and 

 ujiper parts dark brown, darlj- 

 est on head and rump, the 

 lower parts similar, more gray- 

 ish, passing through gray mot- 

 tling to whitish on belly. Thus 

 the 9 is a very small and 

 obscure duck, M'idely different 

 from the ^ ; observe the small 

 size, very sliort bill, only about 

 1.00 along eulmen, higher than 

 wide at base ; plumage without 

 definite markings excepting the 

 two spots on each side tif the 

 head ; extent of dappled gray 

 and white on the under parts 

 very variable. Length of $ 

 16.00-17.00 ; extent 2-1.00- 

 27.00; wing 7.00-8.00; tail 

 3.00-1.00; tarsus 1.30; bill 

 along eulmen 1.10, along gape 

 1.50. Europe, Asia, N. Am., 

 northerly and chiefly coastwise, but also in interior; S. in winter to Middle States and Gala. ; 

 breeds in R. :Mts. of U. S., and northward, as from Newfoundland to Alaska. Nest iu the 

 hollow of a tree or stump, of weeds and grasses and parents' down; eggs 6-S, 2.10 X 1-00, 

 greenish. The harlequins are in some places called "lords and ladies." 



SOBIATE'RIA. (Gr. iraiia, o-aifiaTos, soma, somatos, the body ; fpwv, erion, wool, down.) 

 Eiders. Bill varying in confonnation with the species ; iu one simple, much as in Histrio- 

 nicus for example, without special gibbosity or peculiar outline of feathers ; in the rest 

 variously tumid or gibbous, with very various dispositions of frontal processes and outlines of 



Fig. 493. — Bills of Eiders, J nat. size, -viewed from above and in profile. 

 1, 5, moUissima ; 1, S. m. drtsstri. (From Sliarpe.) 



