ANAS SPARSA.—S m it h .
A v e s .— P la t e XCVII. (M a l e .)
A. brunneo-rubra, plumis subalbo-marginatis; pennis scapularibus remigibusque internis albo-maculatis ;
rostro superne cseruleo-griseo, medio versus basin ungueque nigris; pedibus flavis.
L ongitudo e rostri apice ad basin caudee, 17 nnc. 3 lin. ; candee, 4 unc. 9 lin.
Anas Sparsa, Smith, Eyton’s Monagrapli on Anatidae, p. 142, Lond. 1838.
C o lo ur .— Head, neck, breast, belly, and vent dull brownish red, the
feathers of the top of the head, upper part of neck, breast, belly, and vent
narrowly edged with dirty white; those of the sides of the head and neck,
and of the upper part of the throat, broadly edged with rusty white, and from
the light edges being more exposed to view than the brown, the colour of
these, parts is comparatively light. Under tail coverts tipped with rusty
white and broadly barred with pure white ; interscapulars, back, rump, upper
tail coverts, shoulder coverts, primary and secondary quill coverts, scapulars,
and tertiary quill feathers umber-brown, the two latter tinted with brassy
green. The interscapulars are narrowly margined with rusty white, the
shoulder coverts, obscurely, with grayish white, the upper tail coverts are
sparingly blotched or partially barred with rufous, and the scapulars and tertiary
quill feathers are variegated with a few rufous or pure white bars, and
as portions of these are always exposed to view, there appears on the sides
of the back a sprinkling of irregular white spots. The tips of the secondary
quill coverts are velvet black, and each of these feathers behind the black has
a broad pure white bar. The base of the outer vane of secondary qudl
feathers and their inner vanes brown, their tips white, and behind the white
a broad bar of velvet black, the rest of the outer vanes deep shining duck-
green ; the outer vane of the outermost tertiary quill feather is also velvet-
black, so that the two extremes, and the inner side of the wing-speculum
are bounded by black. Primary quill and tail feather brownish red, the
latter narrowly tipped with sienna-yellow, and their outer vanes partially
barred with pale buff-orange. Bill,— the centre portion of the upper mandible
from its base to near the nail, the latter, and a spot below each nostril,
black or deep liver-brown, edges of nostrils bluish-white ; the other parts of
the mandible bluish-grey. Legs and toes reddish-yellow, the webs the same,
and each tinted midway between the toes with dirty greyish-black; claws
brownish-red. Eyes dark brown.