NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BERMUDAS. II 



and graceful in form, and TUFTED — the tuft extending to 

 the nape of the neck ; upper part of head, dark olive ; 

 cheeks, tuft, and sides of neck, greenish brown, inclining 

 to grey ; chin, patch round the eye, and margin, or base 

 of the bill, white. Between the base of the bill and white 

 patch round the eye, the plumage approaches to black. 

 Eyelids, bright yellow ; back, rump, and tail, rich olive 

 green, tinged with a hue of copper. The tail was of 

 fourteen feathers. Front part of the neck shaded with 

 reddish brown — the centre of each feather being dashed 

 with a line of white ; breast, mottled ; lower part of the 

 body, white ; feathers under the tail, grey, tipped with 

 black ; sides, ferruginous brown, the middle of each feather 

 being conspicuously marked with a longitudinal white 

 spot, traced with a dark line in the centre; legs, dirty 

 yellowish green, with dusky webs ; wings, dark brown ; 

 primaries tipped with black, and the outer vane of all 

 but the external one marked with white ; secondaries, 

 brown on the inner part, and the outer parts bluish black, 

 the points of each beautifully tipped with white ; greater 

 wing coverts, purple, shot with bronze and edged with 

 black, forming together a brilliant spot ; inner part of the 

 wings mottled with rows of light grey spots on a silvery 

 ground, resembling, in a peculiar manner, the under side 

 of a Snipe's wing. The eyes were injured and somewhat 

 indistinct, but appeared to be of a light colour. 



This Duck, I understand, made a very peculiar and noisy 

 cry when it rose upon the wing. On comparing the de- 

 scription of this Duck with the synopsis of Audubon, the 

 ornithology of Wilson, and the " New York Fauna," I feel 

 satisfied that the Duck in question is the female of the 

 Anas sponsa, or Wood Duck. 



Neither Audubon's nor Wilson's description of the female 

 of this Duck is sufficiently distinct to justify this conclu- 



