70 
THE EIDER DUCK. 
tarsus 13 ; middle toe 2f- 2 -, its claw T 7 2 . Weight in winter, 5 lbs. 5J oz. ; 
in breeding time 4 lbs. 84 oz. 
Adult Female. 
The female differs greatly from the male. The bill is shorter, its tumid 
basal part much less and narrower. Feathers of the head and upper part 
of the neck are very small, soft, and uniform ; the scapulars and inner 
secondaries are not elongated, as in the male. Bill pale greyish-green ; iris 
and feet as in the male. The head and neck all round light brownish-red, 
with small lines of brownish-black. Lower part of neck all round, the 
whole upper surface, the sides, and the lower tail-coverts of the same 
colours, but there the brownish-black markings are broad. Secondary 
quills and larger coverts greyish-brown, tipped with white, primaries 
brownish-black ; tail-feathers greyish-brown. Breast and abdomen greyish- 
brown, obscurely mottled. 
Length to end of tail 24 inches, to end of wings 20i, to end of claws 27 ; 
extent of wings 39 ; wing from flexure 11^ ; tail 4 ; bill 3 iV ; tarsus 13 ; 
middle toe 2 T \, its claw T s |. Weight in winter 4 lbs. 44 oz. ; in breeding 
time 3 lbs. 12 oz. 
The down of the female is light grey ; that of the male on the white parts 
is pure Avhite, on the dark, greyish-white. 
I have represented three of these birds in a state of irritation. A mated 
pair, having a few eggs already laid, have been approached by a single male, 
and are in the act of driving off the intruder, who, to facilitate his retreat, 
is lashing his antagonists with his wings. 
Adult Male, from Dr. T. M. Brewer. The roof of the mouth is broadly 
and deeply concave ; the posterior aperture of the nares linear, 10 twelfths 
long, margined with two rows of very pointed papillae. Tongue 2 inches 
long, convex above, with a large median groove, fleshy, very thick, with a 
semicircular thin-edged horny tip ; the breadth at the base 4f twelfths, at the 
tip 4 twelfths ; the sides with two longitudinal series of bristles. The width 
of the mouth is 1 inch 3 twelfths. The cesop’hagus'is 10} inches long, for 
44 inches, its width is 1 inch, it then enlarges so as to form what might be 
considered as a kind of crop, 1 inch 7 twelfths in width ; after this it con- 
tinues of the uniform diameter of 1 inch, but in the proventriculus, Fig. 1, 
b c, enlarges to 1^ inches. Its muscular walls are very thick, and the 
external fibres conspicuous, the inner coat longitudinally plicate. The left 
lobe of the liver is 2 inches 2 twelfths long, the right lobe 4 inches. The 
gall-bladder elliptical, 1 inch 5 twelfths in length, 11 twelfths in breadth. 
The stomach, cd e f g h, is a gizzard of enormous size, placed obliquely, 
transversely elliptical, its length 2\ inches, its breadth 3 inches. The pro- 
fentricular glands are extremely numerous, and form a belt 2 inches in 
