314 RED-HEADED DUCK. 



first straight and declinate, then slightly concave, direct for a short space 

 near the tip, where it is incurved, the ridge broad and concave at the base, 

 narrowed at the middle, enlarged and convex at the end; the sides nearly 

 erect at the base, becoming anteriorly more and more declinate and convex, 

 the edges curved, with about 45 lamella, the unguis elliptical, and abruptly 

 rounded at the end. Nostrils sub-medial, oblong, rather large, pervious, 

 near the ridge, in an oblong depression covered with soft membrane. Lower 

 mandible flattened, being but slightly convex, with the angle very long and 

 rather narrow, the dorsal line very short and slightly convex, the erect edges 

 with about 55 inferior lamella?; the unguis obovate and abrupt. 



Head rather large, compressed, convex above. Eyes small. Neck of 

 moderate length, rather thick. Body full, depressed. Wings small. Feet 

 very short, strong, placed rather far behind; tarsus very short, compressed, 

 anteriorly with narrow scutella continuous with those of the middle toe, and 

 having another series commencing half-way down and continuous with those 

 of the outer toe, the rest reticulated with angular scales. Hind toe small, 

 with an inner expanded margin or web; middle toe nearly double the length 

 of the tarsus, outer a little shorter. Claws small, compressed, that of the 

 first toe very small and curved, of the third toe larger and more expanded 

 than the rest. 



Plumage dense, soft, blended. Feathers of the upper part of the head 

 small and rather compact, of the rest of the head and neck small, blended, 

 and glossy. Wings shortish, narrow, pointed; primary quills strong, taper- 

 ing, the first longest, the second almost as long, the rest rapidly diminishing; 

 secondary quills broad and rounded, the inner elongated and tapering. Tail 

 very short, much rounded, or wedge-shaped, of fourteen feathers. 



Bill light greyish-blue, with a broad band of black at the end, and a dusky 

 patch anterior to the nostrils. Iris orange-yellow. Head and neck all 

 round, for more than half its length, of a rich brownish-red, glossed with 

 carmine above. A broad belt of brownish-black occupies the lower part of 

 the neck, and the fore part of the body, of which the posterior part is of 

 the same colour, more extended on the back than under the tail. Back an<- 

 scapulars pale greyish-white, very minutely traversed by dark brownis 

 grey lines; the sides and abdomen similar, the undulations gradually fad^slg 

 away into the greyish-white of the middle of the breast; upper wing-coverts 

 brownish-grey, the feathers faintly undulated with whitish toward the end. 

 Primary quills brownish-grey, dusky along the outer web and at the end; 

 secondaries ash-grey, narrowty tipped with white, the outer faintly tinged 

 with j T ellow, and almost imperceptibly dotted with whitish, four or five of 

 the inner of a purer tint, tinged with blue, and having a narrow brownish- 

 black line along the margin; the innermost like the scapulars, but more 



