( «45 ) 
The Eared or Horned Dob-chick. 
T HIS Bird is about the Bignefs of a Teal; it hath fmall Wings, and large 
Legs and Feet in Proportion to its Body. I take it to be a Cock Bird, and be- 
lieve I have already defcribed its Hen, in P. 96. of this Work, the fecond defcribed 
Bird ; the under defcribed differs from that in being a little Bigger, in being more 
Buffle-headed, and in having its Colours a little brighter. The Bill from its Point to 
the Angles of the Mouth is an Inch and a Quarter long ; the Wing when clofed fix 
Inches long ; the Leg an Inch and three Quarters ; the middle Toe two Inches long. 
The Bill is ftxaight and fharp-pointed ; the Tip of it White ; the Bafe of the 
lower Mandible Flefh-colour’d, the Remainder Black, or Dufky ; the Noftrils are 
placed in Furrows ; it hath alfo fome oblique Indentures on the Sides of the lower 
Mandible ; from the Corner of the Mouth to the Eye there paffes a Line of Skin, 
bare of Feathers, of a red Colour ; the Head is cover’d with long black Feathers, 
with a filming green Giofs, and appears much bigger than it is. From behind the 
Eyes, immediately on each Side, paffes a Line of long, loofe, yellowifh, Grange- 
colour’d Feathers, which aimofl join on the Hinder-part of the Head, and hang a 
little downward, and form a Kind of Creft ; the Hinder-part of the Neck and the 
Back is o.f a blackifh Brown *, the Coverts of the Wings are Afh-colour’d ; it hath 
about thirty Quills in each Wing, fome of the firfb of which are Dufky or Blackifh, 
then follow about a dozen White ones; the Remainder of the Quills next the Back 
are (like the Back) of a dirty Brown ; the inner Coverts of the Wings are White ; 
the inner Web of the Quills within Side, appears alfo Whitlfh ; the Neck fuddenly 
appears fmall below the Buffle-Head; the Fore-part of the Neck, and Beginning of 
the Breaft is of a reddifli Orange-Colour, a little broken into the White cn the 
Bread: ; the whole Belly is White, with a Silver-like Giofs. On the Sides, for the 
whole Length of the Body, where the dark Brown of the Back joins with the 
White on the Belly, there is a Mixture of dirty Orange-Colour, blended equally into 
the Brown of the upper Side, and the White on the Nether. It hath no Appearance 
of a Tail. The Legs are placed at the End of the Body, and the Thighs are fo 
bound within the Skin that they cannot be moved backward or forward as 
in other Birds; fo that, when on Land, the^ muft of Neceffity walk upright. The 
Legs are flat and broad, the better to cut the Water; the three Toes that Hand for- 
ward have flifF Webs or Fins on each Side of every Toe, and are divided from 
each other aimofl to their Bottoms; the hinder Toe has only one little Web; the 
Nails on the Toes are broad and Hat, like thofe on human Fingers ; the Legs are bare 
knee’d (but not above the Knees) and toothed or jagged cn their Hinder-parts, of a 
blueifh Aft-Colour on their outer Sides, and inclining to Fleft-Colour on their Infides. 
This Bird was brought from Flttdfon’s-Bay by Mr. FJham y and I believe it to be 
a Non-defcript Species, but not confined to America only ; for that defcribed, i P. 
96, which I fuppofe to be the Hen of this, was taken near London , but was there 
fo rare as not to be known. 
2 r%e 
