280 



THE WOOD DUCK. 



the feathers anterior to the wing, the upper hypochondria!, the inner secon- 

 daries and the rump-feathers are not enlarged, as in him. Bill blackish- 

 brown; feet dusky, tinged with yellow. Upper part of head dusky, glossed 

 with green, sides of the head and neck, with the hind part of the latter, light 

 brownish-grey; throat white, but without the lateral processes of the male. 

 Fore part of neck below and sides light yellowish-brown, mottled with dark 

 greyish-brown, as are the sides under the wings; breast and abdomen white, 

 the former spotted with brown. Hind neck, back, and rump, dark brown, 

 glossed with green and purple. Wings as in the male, but the speculum 

 less, and the secondaries externally faint reddish-purple, the velvet black of 

 the male diminished to a few narrow markings. Tail dark brown, glossed 

 with green; lower tail-coverts pale greyish-brown, mottled with white; 

 lower wing-coverts as in the male. 



Length 19-|- inches. 



Male. Width of mouth 8 twelfths; the upper mandible is widely con- 

 cave, with a prominent line, on which are a few papillae; there are about 30 

 lamellae on each side of the upper mandible, of which only five about the 

 middle project beyond the margin, on the edge of the lower are 35. The 

 tongue is fleshy, 1 inch 5 twelfths long, papillate at the base, contracted to- 

 ward the middle, the edges thin and lamellate, the tip semicircular, thin, and 

 horny. (Esophagus 8^ inches long, its width uniformly 10 twelfths; the 

 proventriculus 4 inches in breadth. The stomach is a very large muscular 

 gizzard of a transversely elliptical form, placed obliquely, 1 inch 5 twelfths 

 long, 1 inch Sj twelfths broad; the lateral muscles very thick, and forming 

 a singularly thin edge; the tendons covering the whole surface; the left mus- 

 cle 7. twelfths thick, the right S twelfths; the epithelium very thick, dense, - 

 with two elliptical grinding surfaces. Proventricular belt 1 inch 5 twelfths 

 in breadth. Lobes of the liver 1 inch 8 twelfths, and 2 inches 8 twelfths 

 long. Intestine 37 inches long, for a short space at the commencement, its 

 width is 4 twelfths, but presently contracts to 2|- twelfths, and ultimately to 

 2 twelfths, being more slender than that of any other species of this family 

 examined. The coeca are 2i inches long, 1^- twelfths in width, and placed 

 at the distance of 3^ inches from the extremity. 



Trachea 6^ inches long, much flattened, of the uniform width of 3 twelfths; 

 its rings rather firm, 120 in number, of which about 15 at the lower part are 

 extremely narrow and distant in front. There is an irregular transverse 

 bony ovate dilatation, 10 twelfths in breadth, 6 twelfths in length, with its 

 greatest protuberance to the left side, as is usual. Bronchi of moderate 

 length, the left of 28, the right of 30 half rings. There are no inferior 

 laryngeal muscles, and both the sterno-tracheals come off on the right side, 

 the left one winding behind the right end of the tympanum. 



