518 
LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
Sp. Char. Adult male in winter : Head and neck plain bright rufous, abruptly defined below, 
and becoming paler next the bill ; forehead and pileuni medially immaculate white ; a few 
blackish feathers around the eyelids. Jugulum and sides of the breast pinkish vinaceous, the tips 
of the feathers paler. Sides, flanks, and entire dorsal surface delicately undulated with transverse, 
zig-zag bars of black and pure white, the bars of the latter rather the narrower. Wing-coverts im- 
maculate pure white, except the anterior portion of the 
lesser-covert region, which is deep cinereous ; last row 
of coverts tipped with velvety black ; tertials velvety 
black, shafted and edged with pure white ; the lower 
one with the entire lower web pure white. Speculum 
soft metallic green on the anterior half or two thirds, 
the terminal portion velvety black. Primaries plain 
cinereous. Tail-coverts (both upper and lower) deep 
black, with a very faint bluish gloss ; rest of the lower 
parts immaculate white. Tail-feathers dark cinereous, 
edged with ashy white. Bill “ light grayish blue, with 
the tip, including the unguis, black;” 'iris hazel 
brown ; ” legs and feet “ light grayish blue ” (Macgil- 
livray). 
Wing, 10.00-11.00 inches ; culmen, 1.35-1.45; tar- 
sus, 1.45-1.60 ; middle toe, 1.65-1.75. 
Adult female : “ Much smaller and differently col- 
ored. The bill, iris, and feet, however are as in the 
male. The head and upper neck are yellowish red, 
with small greenish black spots, the feathers being 
barred with that color, of which there is more on the upper part of the head. The feathers 
of the upper parts in general are dusky brown, edged with brownish red or whitish, and barred 
with the same. The wings are dusky gray ; the coverts in the part which is white in the male 
tipped with that color, the secondary coverts with an indication of a dark terminal bar ; the 
speculum grayish, without lustre ; the inner secondaries marked somewhat as in the male, but 
with dark gray in place of black. The tail-feathers brownish gray, edged with brownish white. On 
the lower forepart and sides of the neck the feathers are obscurely barred with reddish brown and 
brownish gray ; the sides are similar ; the breast and abdomen white ; the feathers under the tail 
white, barred with brown, as are the smaller lower wing-coverts ; the larger pale gray ” (Macgilli- 
vray). Length, about 19.25 inches ; extent, 32.50; wing, 10.00 ; tail, 4.00; culmen, 1.50 ; tarsus, 
1.50; middle toe, 1.25. Young male: Head, neck, jugulum, sides, and flanks, umber-brown, 
varying to a cinnamon shade, the head and neck thickly streaked with black, and the feathers of 
the jugulum, sides, etc., centred with dusky. Back and scapulars dusky, the feathers broadly bor- 
dered with dull fulvous ; crissum irregularly streaked and spotted with dusky ; rump and upper 
tail-coverts slaty brown, bordered with dull whitish. Wing as in the adult, except that the 
coverts are dull cinereous broadly bordered with white. Lower parts, except as described, pure 
white. 
Male. 
An adult male from Alexandria, Va. (No. 29519), has the rufous of the head perfectly uniform, 
with only a few blackish feathers immediately around the eye, and a suffusion of the same on the 
chin ; while the pinkish of the jugulum joins the rufous of the neck. No. 1271, New York 
market, has the sides of the head speckled minutely with greenish black, the nape and entire throat 
clouded with the same, and the pinkish of the jugulum separated from the rufous of the neck by a 
narrow indistinct collar of whitish, undulated with blackish. No. 10376, from Florida, approaches 
still more closely to M. americana in having also the occiput spotted with black, the eye more 
broadly surrounded with greenish, the ground-color of the cheeks nearly white, and the sides per- 
vaded by a tinge of the pinkish of the jugulum. No. 62525, from St. Paul’s Island, Alaska, is 
most like the Alexandria specimen. 
A young male (No. 57119, Europe) has the brown of the head, neck, sides, and flanks, almost 
chestnut ; the wing as in the adult, and the dorsal region mostly clothed with feathers of the adult 
dress. 
