246 
MERGUS SERRATOR. 
narrow bands of black ; primaries, black ; secondaries, 
white ; several of the latter edged with black ; lower 
part of the back, the rump, and tail-coverts, gray, 
speckled with black ; sides under the wings, elegantly 
crossed with numerous waving lines of black; belly 
and vent, white ; legs and feet, red ; the tail, dusky 
ash ; the black of the back passes up the hind neck in 
a narrow band to the head. 
The female is twenty-one inches in length, and thirty 
in extent ; the crested head and part of the neck are of 
a dull sorrel colour ; i rides, yellow ; legs and bill red, 
upper parts, dusky slate ; w ings, black ; greater coverts, 
largely tipt w ith wdiite ; secondaries, nearly all white ; 
sides of the breast, slightly dusky ; whole lower parts, 
pure white; the tail is of a lighter slate than the back. 
The crest is much shorter than in the male, and some- 
times there is a slight tinge of ferruginous on the breast. 
The w indpipe of the male of this species is very 
curious, and differs somethingfrom that of thegoosander. 
About two inches from the mouth, it swells out to four 
times its common diameter, continuing of that size for 
about an inch and a half. This swelling is capable of 
being shortened or extended ; it then continues of its 
first diameter for tw r o inches or more, when it becomes 
fiattish, and almost transparent for other tw o inches ; 
it then swells into a bony labyrinth of more than two 
inches in length by one and a half in width, over the 
hollow sides of which is spread a yellowish skin like 
parchment. The left side of this, fronting the back of 
the bird, is a hard bone. The divarications come out 
very regularly from this at the low er end, and enter 
the lungs. 
The intention of Nature in this extraordinary struc- 
ture is probably to enable the bird to take dowm a 
supply of air to support respiration while diving; yet 
why should the female, w ho takes the same submarine 
excursions as the male, be entirely destitute of this 
apparatus ? 
