anatiDjE. 445 



coverts, and the tail, liver-brown. Sides of the rump, longer under wing coverts, and axillary 

 feathers, pure white. The under plumage pale reddish-orange, glossed with chestnut on the 

 breast, and thickly marked throughout with round blackish spots, which on the breast and 

 tips of the long flank feathers change to bars. Bill bluisb-black. Feet yellow. 



Form. — Bill larger and wider than that of A. crecca ; lamince like those of the Mallard ; 

 but the upper ones stronger and distinctly projecting beyond the margin : (a character which 

 belongs to no other species here enumerated, except the Gadwall and the Shoveller. — Sw.) 

 Wings an inch and a half shorter than the tail, which consists of fourteen feathers. The 

 nuchal plumage not lengthened as in the two preceding species. 



The female wants the white patches on the sides of the rump, the crescent before the eye, 

 and the rich purple tint on the head and neck. Its upper plumage is browner, and the pale 

 bars are less distinct and handsome. The under plumage is white and brown, with irregular 

 blotches of a darker colour, instead of neat round spots. The wings as in the male. — The 

 young birds want the green speculum, and in other respects are like the female. 









Dimensions 

















Of the male. 













Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. Lin, 



Length, total 



18 







Length of bill above . 



. 1 



7^ 



Length of middle toe . 



. 1 5 



,, of tail 



2 



6 



,, of bill from rictus 



2 







„ of middle nail 



. 4 



„ of folded wing 



. 7 



3 



„ of tarsus 



1 



2 





— R. 



[203.] ]. Mareca Americana. (Stephens.) American Widgeon. 



Sub-family, Anatina, Swains. Genus, Mareca, Steph. 



American Widgeon. Penn. Arct. Zool, ii., p. 567, No. 502. Wils., viii., p. 86, pi. 69, f. 4. 



Anas Americana. Sab. Frank. Journ., p. 700. Bonap. Syn., No. 326. 



Mareca Americana. Steph. Gen. ZooL, xii., p. 135. 



Atheekemow-weeshep. Cree Indians. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, May, 1827. 



Colour. — A white band from the forehead to the nape, bounded behind the eye by a 

 broad dark green patch, which ends in the nuchal crest. Upper part and sides of the breast 

 brownish-red, glossed with grey. Base of the neck above, interscapulars, scapulars, and 

 flanks, minutely undulated with brownish-red and black ; hind part of the back undulated 

 in a similar manner with clove-brown and white, the latter colour prevailing on the tail 

 coverts. Lesser wing coverts, primaries, and tail, clove-brown ; intermediate and greater 

 coverts, sides of the rump, breast, and belly, pure white. Speculum velvet-black below, 

 duck-green above, bounded superiorly with black and posteriorly with white. Exterior webs 

 of the tertiaries and lateral and inferior tail coverts greenish-black, the first bordered with 

 white. Bill bluish-grey, bordered and tipped with black. 



