90 NORTB AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Genus MERGUS Linnjeus. (Page 84.) 



Species. 



Adult male : Prevailing color pure white, but this relieved as follows : A patch 

 covering lores and narrowly surrounding eyes, deep black with a greenish reflec- 

 tion ; under portion of crest glossy greenish black ; back, rump, some of the wing- 

 coverts, secondaries, and two narrow crescentic bars across sides of chest, deep 

 black ; upper tail-coverts and tail ash-gray ; length about 16.50, wing 7.75, culmen 

 1.10. Adult female : Upper part of head, including lores, reddish brown ; rest of 

 head, with neck (except behind), and lower parts, white ; upper parts, sides, and 

 flanks ash-gray, darker on back ; chest tinged with pale ashy ; smaller than the 

 male, and crest less developed. Downy young : " Upper parts, including sides of the 

 head below the eye, but only on the back of the neck, dark blackish brown, darkest 

 on the crown and the lower part of the back ; at the base of the wing-joint a white 

 spot, and another close to it, but rather lower down the back, and on each side of 

 the rump another white spot ; below the eye a very small white spot ; underparts 

 white ; breasts and flanks pale grayish or sooty brown." (Dresser.) Sab. Europe, 

 etc. ; accidental or occasional in eastern North America (?). 



M. albellus Linn. Smew. 1 



Gentjs ANAS Linnaeus. (Page 84, pi. XXII., figs. 2-5 ; pi. XXIII., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



a 1 . Culmen longer than middle toe, without claw. 



b l . "Width of upper mandible near tip more than one-third the culmen, the 

 upper and lateral outlines of upper mandible more or less convex for 

 terminal half. 

 &. Wing more than 8.00 ; scapulars and larger tertials broad, and without 

 light-colored median stripes in adult male. (Subgenus Anas.) 

 d 1 . Smaller wing-coverts uniform grayish brown or brownish slate; 

 tertials without light edgings ; sexes very different in plumage ; 

 wing with two distinct white bands. 

 Adult male : Head and neck soft, brilliant metallic green ; 

 chest rich dark chestnut, separated from green of neck by 

 a collar of pure white ; speculum rich metallic violet, bor- 

 dered anteriorly by a black bar, this preceded by a white 

 bar, and posteriorly by a black subterminal and white 

 terminal band. Adult female (and male in breeding season) : 

 "Wings as above; elsewhere varied with dusky and ochra- 

 ceous or buffy, the former on central or median portion of 

 the feathers, and predominating on upper parts, the latter 

 on edges, and prevailing on lower parts. Downy young : 



1 Mergus albellus Linn., S. N. ed. 10, i. 1758, 129. 



