168 



BLACK VIRALVE. 



Nearly ten inches in length : beak black : irides 

 brown : the head and hinder part of the neck are 

 deep black : the throat, fore part of the neck, breast, 

 belly, and abdomen are blackish-ash : all the oipper 

 parts, the rump, and the tail-feathers are ashy-blue, 

 or lead-colour: the under tail-coverts are pure white : 

 the tW'O first wing-quills are edged with white at the 

 extremity of the inner webs : the legs are brown, or 

 a blackish-purple. The young have the beak brown 

 at the base : the irides brown: the forehead, space 

 between the beak and the eye, the sides, and fore 

 part of the neck, as well as all the under parts are 

 pure white : on the sides of the breast is a large spot 

 of blackish-ash : before the eyes is a black lunule : the 

 top of the head, the occiput and the nape are also 

 black : the back and scapulars are brown edged and 

 tipped with reddish -white : the wings, rump, and tail 

 are ash-coloured : the coverts are tipped with red- 

 dish-white : the legs are livid brown. In their pro- 

 gress to maturity they vary in the disposition of the 

 colour of the plumage, as the neck, belly, and vent 

 are sometimes all white, or varied with white fea- 

 thers, or those of a blackish ash-colour, as in the 

 adult. 



This species, like its congeners, prefers the borders 

 of fresh-water lakes, the banks of large rivers, and 

 marshy places, rather than the coasts of the sea : it 

 is very abundant in the North, towards the Arctic 

 Circle, and in the extensive marshes of Holland. In 

 Britain it occurs on the fenny parts of Lincolnshire 

 and Cambridgeshire, and about the sedgy pools on 

 Romsey Marsh, in Kent ; in which places it breeds, 



