THE WOOD DUCK. 279 



curved, of the rest of the head and upper part of neck very short, of the 

 back and lower parts in general broad and rounded, excepting on the 

 shoulders before the wings, where they are enlarged, very broad and abrupt. 

 Wings of moderate length, narrow, acute; primaries curved, strong, taper- 

 ing, first and second longest; secondaries broad, rounded. Tail of moderate 

 length, rather broad, much rounded, of sixteen rounded feathers. 



Upper mandible bright red at the base, pale yellow on the sides, the inter- 

 mediate space along the ridge, and the unguis, black, as in the lower man- 

 dible and its membrane. Iris and edges of eyelids bright red. Feet dull 

 orange, claws black. Upper part of head, and space between the bill and 

 eye, deep green, and highly glossed; below the latter space a patch of dark 

 purple, and a larger one of the same colour, but lighter, behind the eye; 

 sides of the neck, its hind part under the crest, and the middle all round 

 very dark purple. A narrow line along the base of the upper mandible and 

 over the eye, meeting on the occiput, pure white, as are some of the feathers 

 of the crest; another from behind the eye, meeting below the occiput, and 

 including several of the lower elongated feathers. Throat, for more than 

 three inches, pure white, with a process on each side a little beyond the eye, 

 and another nearly halfway down the neck. Sides of the neck, and its 

 lower part, anteriorly reddish-purple, each feather on the latter with a trian- 

 gular white tip. Middle of the neck behind, back and rump, very dark 

 reddish-brown, the latter deeper, and tinged with green; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail greenish-black; some of the lateral tail-coverts dull reddish-purple, 

 a few on either side with their central filaments light red. Smaller wing- 

 coverts, alula and primaries, dull greyish-brown; most of the latter with 

 part of their outer web greyish-white, and their inner towards the end 

 darker and glossed with green. Secondary quills tipped with white, the 

 outer webs green, with purple reflections, those of the inner secondaries and 

 scapulars velvet-black, their inner webs partially glossed and changing to 

 green. The broad feathers anterior to the wings are white, terminated with 

 black; breast and abdomen greyish-white; feathers under the wings yellow- 

 ish-grey, minutely undulated with black and white bars; lower wing-coverts 

 and axillar feathers white, barred with greyish-brown; lower tail-coverts dull 

 greyish-brown. 



Length 20| inches, to end of claws 17^, extent of wings 28; bill ly 5 ^; 

 tarsus 1 T 5 2, middle toe and claw 2-^-, wing from flexure 9; tail 4^. 



Adult Female. 



The female is considerably smaller, and differs greatly from the male in 

 colouring. The feathers of the head are not elongated, but those of the 

 upper part of the neck behind are slightly so. In other respects the plumage 

 presents nothing very remarkable, and is similar to that of the male, only 



