TR0P1CK BIRD. 
ginning in the lesser coverts of .each wing, and 
taking in two or three of the quills next the 
body ; a lesser black spot on each shoulder ; 
beside some small spots, or mixture, in the 
white feathers on the lower belly. The tail 
has twelve feathers ; short on the outsides, and 
increasing gradually to the two middle ones, 
whicfi are very narrow, and shoot out nearly 
twenty inches beyond the rest. The shafts 
of the tail-feathers are black; as are those of 
the covert-feathers -of the wings, which fall 
over the black prime quills. It has small, and 
weak, legs and feet, in proportion to it's size ; 
with four toes on a foot, all webbed together, 
and a lateral fin on the outside of the outermost- 
toe. The legs, and beginning of the toes, are 
red; the webs, and ends of the toes, black, as 
are the claws. I have seen another of these 
birds, spotted with a number of small black 
spots, in the place of the larger beds of black 
described in the above. The legs and bill ap- 
pear yellowish in the dried bird ; but, I am in- 
formed, they are red in the living birds." 
To this, Edwards merely adds, that the bird ' 
which he figured was in the possession of his 
good 
