ANATIDiE. 447 



lateral. Forehead sloping. Occipital crest long and pendant. Wings shorter than the 

 tail, which consists of sixteen wide, rounded feathers. 



The female wants the fine lines on the flanks and the hair-like tufts on the sides of the 

 rump. She has a shorter crest; and the plumage is less vivid, particularly about the head, 

 where it is mostly brown. 



Dimensions 

 Of the male. 



Inch. Liu. Inch. Lin. 



Length of bill above . 1 4^ Length of tarsus . . 1 fi 



„ of bill to lateral angle 2 ,, of middle toe & claw 2 



,, of bill to rictus . 1 10 



— R. 







Inch. 



Lin. 



Igtl 



i, total 



21 







53 



of tail 



4 



G 



39 



of folded wing 



. 9 







[205.] 1. Somateria spectabilis. (Leach.) King Duck. 



Sub-family, Fuligulinae, Swains. Genus, Somateria, Leach. 

 Grey-headed Duck. Edw., pi. 154. 

 King Duck. Penn, Arct. Zool, ii., p. 554, No. 481. 

 Anas spectabilis {King Duck). Sab. Greenl. Birds, p. 552, No. 26. 

 Canard a tete grise {Anas spectabilis). Temm., ii., p. 851. 

 Anas spectabilis {Ring Duck). Sab. Suppl. Parry's First Voy., p. ccvii., No. 28. Richards. 



Append. Parry's Second Voy., p. 371, No. 32. 

 Fuligula (Somateria) spectabilis. Bonap. Syn., No. 332. 



DESCRIPTION 

 Of a male, killed, 2nd June, 1822, on Melville Peninsula. 



Colour. — Frontlet, circumference of the frontal plates, under eyelid, edge of the upper 

 one, and two converging bands on the throat, meeting on the chin, rich velvet-black. Top of 

 the head and nape bluish-grey. Cheeks pistachio-green. Superciliary line, reaching to the 

 nape, and the breast, ochre-yellow. Neck, fore part of the back, most of the lesser wing 

 coverts, and the sides of the rump, white. Scapulars, greater coverts, lesser quills, curved 

 tertiaries, rump, tail coverts, and under plumage, ink-black. Borders of the wings, greater 

 quills and tail, blackish-brown. Bill vermilion-red, its unguis flesh-coloured ; frontal plates* 

 and base of the lower mandible dutch-orange. Legs ochre- yellow. 



Form, typical. Frontlet, rising immediately behind the nostrils, nearly perpendicularly to 

 the bill, compressed and bounded laterally by two broad, flat, rounded fleshy plates. Unguis 

 strong and vaulted. Nostrils pervious. Wings two inches shorter than the tail. Hind toe 

 lobed ; smaller than that of the Eider. 



The female exactly resembles the female Eider, except that the frontal plates of the upper 

 mandible, instead of being almost horizontal, are more nearly vertical. The bill is also 

 shorter than that of the Eider. — The young male has the head and neck dusky yellowish-grey, 



* These plates, Captain Lyon informs us, exactly resemble in colour the rind of a fine orange, but change to a 

 dingy brown after death. — R. 



