702 



APPENDIX. 



.'[No. V. 



colours of the wings are the same in both sexes. Catesby made the two sexes distinct 

 birds, calling the male the White-faced Duck, and the female the Blue-winged Teal ; 

 hence the different names of the writers who followed Catesby. Buffon called the 

 male Sarcelle Soucrourou, and the female Sarcelle Soucrourelle. Linnaeus brought the 

 two birds of Catesby together, making them the male and female of his Anas 

 Discors. Latham supposes ithese birds do not go higher than New York, but 

 they evidently breed in the more northern parts, passing the United States in the 

 spring and fall, and going for the winter to the West Indian Islands, Cayenne, and 

 other warm countries of the south. They are excellent as food. Catesby de- 

 scribes the females of both his birds as being all brown ; if he ever saw such, they 

 were probably young birds. The male bird may be described from the present spe- 

 cimens;— -length, sixteen inches ; bill an inch and a half long, dark slate colour ; be- 

 tween the eye and 4he bill, but separated from each by dark feathers, is a semi- 

 lunar spot of white, the points turned backwards ; the head and neck otherwise 

 dark brown ; the lower part of the neck, breast, and whole under parts marked 

 with round black spots on pale reddish ground, the spots sometimes running 

 together into bars; sides of the vent white; the under tail-coverts black; feathers 

 on the back, dark brown, edged with very light brown narrow markings ; primaries 

 and tail feathers dusky brown; lesser wing-coverts bright shiny blue; below 

 these a white band ; speculum a brilliant green ; tertials, some having one edge 

 light blue, others striped with pale brown down the centre, otherwise dark brown ; 

 tarse one inch and a quarter long ; legs and feet yellow. 



Anas Sponsa. Summer Duck. 



This species, though not included in the preceding enumeration of American 

 Ducks which are found in the more northern parts Of the New World, ds here intro- 

 duced, because it appears by a drawing made by Lieutenant Hood, at Cumberland- 

 House, in May, 1820, to have been a visitor so far northward at that period. 



Mergus Serrator. Red-breasted Merganser. 



Specimens of two male birds were received. Few birds are more common or better 

 known at Hudson's Bay than the Red-breasted Merganser, they breed there and 

 migrate to the southward in the winter, at which season they are also common in the 

 United States, and have been well described by Pennant and Wilson. They are 

 equally well known in Europe. 



Mergus Cucuttatus. Hooded Merganser. 



A specimen of a female of this species was brought home by the Expedition ; it 

 agrees exactly with the description of Latham and Pennant, who represent it as breed- 

 ing, and being plentiful, in the countries round Hudson's Bay. 



