338 duck. 



The female is smaller ; the head and neck dusky, minutely 

 streaked with brown ; back brown, margins of the feathers pale 

 reddish white ; the scapulars margined with pale rufous ; wing 

 coverts as the back, but with deeper margins ; across the wing a 

 cream bar, bounded above and below with white ; tail as in the 

 male, but the two middle feathers not elongated, 



The young males remain of greyish brown, not greatly unlike 

 the females, till February, when they first gain the proper dress of 

 their sex. We learn that they moult twice in the year, throwing off 

 the male dress in June, and regaining it the end of October, in the 

 intermediate time the male may be easily mistaken for the female.* 



The trachea of the male ends in a bony arch, and attached to it a 

 bony bladder, nearly round, about the size of the thumb, the upper 

 part even with that of the bony arch, but the bottom greatly below 

 it ; from one of these the first division arises to pass to the lungs, and 

 from the other the second. 



This is a pretty common species, but not so plentiful in England 



as in many parts of the Continent ; and only found on our coasts in 



winter ;f it is also frequently taken in our decoys, and sold under 



the name of Sea Pheasant ; it does not remain here to breed, but is 



supposed to migrate more northward for that purpose. Common in 



the Russian Dominions,^ as far as Kamtschatka ; seen in Sweden 



and Denmark in the spring, and breeds about the White Sea.|| In 



the winter is common in France, Germany,§ Italy,5f Spain, and 



Switzerland. In plenty about the Lake Baikal, in Asia, and extends 



both to China and India, where it is caught in snares on the sea 



coasts. Feeds on small fish, which pass within reach while on the 



water, also on reptiles on shore, but is not found to dive under water, 



* See an account in Supp. to Orn. Diet. 



f Visits the Orknies in great- flocks in winter; in great quantities in Connaughtj' in 

 Ireland, in February only.«=Br. Zo.ol. 



% In troops of hundreds on the borders of the Don.— Decouv. russ. i. p. 162. 



II Arct. Zool, § Kramer. H About Rome, there called Coda lancea.— Will, 



