GOOSANDER. 
93 
mouth, is three inches long, nearly an inch thick at the base, 
strongly toothed on both mandibles, the upper mandible with 
two corresponding rows of fine teeth within, the lower divided 
to the nail, and connected by a thin elastic membrane, which 
admits of considerable expansion, to facilitate the passage of 
fish ; nostrils, sub-ovate, broader on the hind part ; the bill is 
black above and below, its sides crimson ; the tongue is long, 
pointed, furnished with a double row of papillse running along 
the middle, and has a hairy border ; irides, golden ; the front- 
let, lores, area of the eyes, and throat, jet black ; head, crested, 
tumid, and of a beautiful glossy bottle-green colour, extending 
nearly half-way down the neck, the remainder of which, with 
the exterior part of the scapulars, the lesser coverts, the greater 
part of the secondaries, the tertials and lining of the wings, 
white, delicately tinged with cream colour ; the breast and 
whole lower parts are of a rich cream colour ; the upper part 
of the back, and the interior scapulars, a fine glossy black ; 
the primaries and exterior part of the secondaries, with their 
coverts, are brownish black ; the lower part of nearly all the 
coverts of the secondaries, white, the upper part, black, form- 
ing a bar across the wing ; the shoulder of the wing is brownish 
ash, the feathers tipt with black ; the middle and lower parts 
of the back and tail-coverts, ash, the plumage centred with 
brown ; tail, brownish ash, rounded, composed of eighteen 
feathers, and extends about three inches beyond the wings ; 
the flanks are marked with waving, finely dotted lines of ash 
on a white ground ; tertials on the outer vanes, edged with 
black ; the legs and feet are of a rich orange ; toes, long, 
middle one somewhat the longest ; claws, flesh-coloured. The 
whole plumage is of a silky softness, particularly that of the 
head and neck, which feels like the most delicate velvet. 
Naturalists represent the feet and legs of this species as of 
the colour of red sealing wax. This is an error which arose 
from the circumstance of their having seen their specimens 
some time after they had been killed. When the bird is alive. 
