328 duck. 



pounds. The bill large, rising high in the head, three inches long, 

 thick at the base, and glossy black ; irides dark red ; cheeks and 

 fore part of the head blackish brown ; the rest of it, and greater part 

 of the neck, bright glossy reddish chestnut, ending in a broad space 

 of black, that covers the upper part of the breast, and spreads 

 round to the back ; the back, scapulars, and tertials white, faintly 

 marked with minute, transverse, waving lines or points, as if done 

 with a pencil ; lower part of the breast and belly white, slightly 

 pencilled in the same manner, pretty thick towards the vent ; wing 

 coverts grey, with numerous blackish specks ; primaries and secon- 

 daries pale slate ; two or three of them nearest the body finely edged 

 with deep velvety black ; the former dusky at the tips ; tail very 

 short, pointed, with fourteen feathers, hoary brown ; vent and tail 

 coverts black ; lining of the wing white ; legs very pale ash ; feet 

 three inches in width, hence its great power in swimming. 



The female somewhat less ; crown blackish brown ; cheeks and 

 throat pale drab ; neck dull brown ; breast, as far as the black 

 extends on the male, dull brown, skirted in places with pale drab; 

 back dusky white, crossed with fine waving lines; belly dull white, 

 pencilled as the back ; coverts of the tail dusky; vent white, waved 

 with brown. The windpipe of the male has a large, flattish, concave 

 labyrinth, the ridge of which is covered with a thin, transparent 

 membrane ; where the trachea enters this is very narrow, but imme- 

 diately above swells to three times of that diameter. Such is the 

 description in the Amer. Ornith. by which it appears not to have 

 been before described. 



92— AMERICAN WIGEON. 



Anas Americana, Ind. Orn. ii. S61. Qm. Lin. i. 526. Am. Orn. viii. 86. pi. 69. f. 1. 



Frankl. Narr. App. p. TOO. 

 Canard Jensen, Buf. ix. 174. PL ml. 955. 

 American Wigeon, Gen. Si/n. vi. 520. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 502. 



THIS is a trifle larger than the Wigeon ; length twenty inches. 

 Bill lead-colour, tip black ; crown and forehead yellowish white, 



