26 
RED-HEADED DUCK. 
dusky. Tail brownish-grey, towards the end lighter. Axillar feathers 
and lower wing-coverts white. Feet dull greyishblue, the webs dusky, 
the claws black. 
Length to end of tail 20 inches, to end of wings 184, to end of claws 
22 ; extent of wings 33 ; wing from flexure 9 r 2 a ; tail 2 r \ ; bill along the 
ridge 2, from the tips of the frontal processes 2 T V ; tarsus II, first toe and 
claw l! ; second toe Iff, its claw fi ; third toe 2 T S 2 , its claw \\ ; fourth toe 
2 t 6 2, its claw yV J . Weight 21 lbs. 
Adult Female. 
The female has the bill of a dusky bluish-grey, with a broad band of black 
at the end, and a narrow transverse blue line, narrower than in the male. 
Iris yellow. Feet as in the male, the head and upper part of the neck dull 
reddish-brown, darker above, and lighter on the fore part of the cheeks and 
along a streak behind the eye. The rest of the neck all round, and the 
upper parts in general, are dull grevish-brown, the feathers paler at their 
extremity ; the flanks and fore part of the neck dull reddish-brown, the 
feathers broadly tipped with pale greyish-brown. The wings are as in the 
male, but of a darker tint, and without undulations. The tail as in the 
male. Lower wing-coverts light grey, those in the middle white ; middle 
of breast greyish-white ; hind part of abdomen light brownish-grey. 
Length to end of tail 21 inches, to end of claws 234 ; extent of wings 
32f. Weight 2 lbs. 7 oz. 
The following account of the digestive organs is taken from a British 
specimen , an adult male, examined by Mr. Macgillivray in March 1836. 
The tongue is 1 inch and 10 twelfths long, 61 twelfths broad, its sides 
furnished with two series of bristly filaments. The oesophagus is 11 inches 
long, with a diameter of nearly 5 twelfths at the top, 8 twelfths at the lower 
part of the neck. The proventriculus has a diameter of 9 twelfths ; its 
glandules are cylindrical, and 2 twelfths long. The stomach is an extremely 
powerful gizzard, of an elliptical form, compressed, oblique, its length 21 
inches, its breadth If ; its lateral muscles more than half an inch thick; the 
cuticular coat rather thin, but very tough, slightly rugous, with two circular 
thicker parts opposite the centres of the lateral muscles. The upper part 
forms a small sac, from which the duodenum comes off ; the pylorus without 
valve. The intestine is 5 feet 4 inches long, narrowest in its upper part, 
where its diameter is 4 twelfths, widest at the middle, where it is 61 
twelfths, near the coeca fV. The rectum is 51 inches long, its diameter 6 
twelfths ; the coeca 7 inches long, nearly cylindrical, 4 twelfths in diameter, 
a little narrower at the commencement. 
