EED-HEADED DUCK. 
25 
first straight and declinate, then slightly concave, direct for a short space 
near the tip, where it is incurved, the ridge broad and concave at the base, 
narrowed at the middle, enlarged and convex at the end ; the sides nearly 
erect at the base, becoming anteriorly more and more declinate and convex, 
the edges curved, with about 45 lamellae, the unguis elliptical, and abruptly 
rounded at the end. Nostrils sub-medial, oblong, rather large, pervious, 
near the ridge, in an oblong depression covered with soft membrane. Lower 
mandible .flattened, being but slightly convex, .with the angle very long and 
rather narrow, the dorsal line very short and slightly convex, the erect edges 
with about 55 inferior lamellae ; the unguis obovate and abrupt. 
Head rather large, compressed, convex above. Byes small. Neck of 
moderate length, rather thick. Body full, depressed. Wings small. Feet 
very short, strong, placed rather far behind • tarsus very short, compressed, 
anteriorly with narrow scutella continuous with those of the middle toe, and 
having another series commencing half-way down and continuous with those 
of the outer toe, the rest reticulated with angular scales. Hind toe small, 
with an inner expanded margin or web ; middle toe nearly double the length 
of the tarsus, outer a little shorter. Claws small, compressed, that of the 
first toe very small and curved, of the third toe larger and more expanded 
than the rest. 
Plumage dense, soft, blended. Feathers of the upper part of the head 
small and rather compact, of the rest of the head and neck small, blended, 
and glossy. Wings shortish, narrow, pointed ; primary quills strong, taper- 
ing, the first longest, the second almost as long, the rest rapidly diminishing ; 
secondary quills broad and rounded, the inner elongated and tapering. Tail 
very short, much rounded, or wedge-shaped, of fourteen feathers. 
Bill light greyish-blue, with a broad band of black at the end, and a dusky 
patch anterior to the nostrils. Iris orange-yellow. Head and neck all 
round, for more than half its length, of a rich brownish-red, glossed with 
carmine above. A broad belt of brownish-black occupies the lower part of 
the neck, and the fore part of the body, of which the posterior part is of 
the same colour, more extended on the back than under the tail. Back and 
scapulars pale greyish-white, very minutely traversed by dark brownish- 
grey lines ; the sides and abdomen similar, the undulations gradually fading 
away into the greyish- white of the middle of the breast ; upper wing-coverts 
brownish-grey, the feathers faintly undulated with whitish toward the end. 
Primary quills brownish-grey, dusky along the outer web and at the end ; 
secondaries ash-grey, narrowly tipped with white’, the outer faintly tinged 
with yellow, and almost imperceptibly dotted with whitish, four or five of 
the inner of a purer tint, tinged with blue, and having a narrow brownish- 
black line along the margin ; the innermost like the scapulars, but more 
Vol. VII. — 4 
