Bill bluish-black. Iris reddish hazel. Feet dull orange-yellow, claws brownish-black, webs dusky. Head light yellowish-red, the upper part and nape much darker and barred with dusky; the rest dotted with the same. The lower part of the neck, the sides of the body, the fore part of the back, and the outer scapulars, undulated with dusky, and yellowish-white, the bands much larger and semicircular on the fore part of the neck and breast; the latter white, the abdomen faintly and minutely undulated with brownish-grey; the elongated scapulars brownish-grey, broadly margined with brownish-red; the hind part of the back brownish-black; the rump all round, and the upper and lower tail-coverts, bluish-black. The anterior smaller wing-coverts are light grey, undulated with dusky, the middle coverts of a deep rich chestnut-red; primary coverts brownish-grey, outer secondary coverts darker and tinged with chestnut, the rest black, excepting the inner, which are grey. Primaries and inner elongated secondaries brownish-grey, of which colour also are the inner webs of the rest, part of the outer webs of five of the outer black, and their terminal margins white, of which colour are the whole outer webs of the three next to the inner elongated quills. Tail brownish-grey, the feathers margined with paler.
Length to end of tail 21 3/4 inches, to end of wings 19, to end of claws 23 1/4; extent of wings 35; bill along the ridge 1 3/4, along the edge of lower mandible 1 7/8; wing from flexure 11; tail 4 3/8; tarsus 1 1/2; hind toe and claw 1/2; second toe 1 5/8, its claw 4/12; third toe 1 7/8, its claw 4/12; outer toe 1 7 1/2/12, its claw 2/12. Weight 1 lb. 10 oz.
Adult Female. Plate CCCXLVIII. Fig. 2.
The female is considerably smaller. Bill dusky along the ridge, dull yellowish-orange on the sides. Iris hazel. Feet of a fainter tint than in the male. Upper part of head brownish-black, the feathers edged with light reddish-brown; a streak over the eye, the cheeks, the upper part of the neck all round, light yellowish-red tinged with grey, and marked with small longitudinal dusky streaks, which are fainter on the throat, that part being greyish-white; the rest of the neck, the sides, all the upper parts and the lower rump feathers brownish-black broadly margined with yellowish-red. Wing-coverts brownish-grey, edged with paler; the wing otherwise as in the male, but the speculum fainter. Tail-feathers, and their coverts dusky, laterally obliquely indented with pale brownish-red, and margined with reddish-white.
Length to end of tail 19 1/4 inches, to end of wings 18 3/4, to end of claws 19 1/2; extent of wings 31; wing from flexure 8 1/4; tail 3 3/4; tarsus 1 4 1/2/12; middle toe 1 9 1/2/12, its claw 4/12.
In a male, the roof of the mouth is deeply concave, with a prominent median ridge, and oblique grooves toward the end. The tongue is 1 inch 10 twelfths long, fleshy, with a deep longitudinal groove, two lateral series of filaments, and a thin broadly rounded tip, as in other ducks. The œsophagus, a, b, is 10 1/2 inches long, 5 twelfths in diameter for about four inches, then enlarged to 10 twelfths, and again contracted as it enters the thorax. The proventriculus, b b, is 1 inch and two twelfths long, its greatest diameter 8 twelfths. The stomach, c d e, is a very large and powerful gizzard, of an elliptical form, compressed, 1 inch and 9 twelfths long, 2 inches in its greatest breadth, or in the direction of the lateral muscles, of which the right, c, is 10 twelfths thick, the left, d, 9 twelfths. The epithelium is thick and rugous; much thickened and forming two roundish, flat or slightly concave grinding surfaces, opposite the muscles. The intestine, e f g, is 6 feet 10 inches long, wide, its diameter for 2 feet being 4 1/2 twelfths, towards the rectum enlarging to 6 twelfths. It forms first a very long duodenal curve, c e f g, and is then convoluted or coiled in numerous folds. The rectum is 5 1/4 inches long; the cœca 11 inches, their greatest diameter 6 twelfths, for 2 inches at the commencement 2 twelfths, towards the end 2 1/2 twelfths, their extremity rounded.
The trachea, h, is 7 1/2 inches long; its diameter at the upper part 4 twelfths, gradually diminishing to 3 1/2 twelfths; it then enlarges to 5 twelfths, and contracts to 3 1/2 twelfths at the commencement of the dilatation of the inferior larynx, which is extremely similar to that of the Widgeon, but larger; there being an enlargement, i, formed by a number of the lower rings united, and to the left side a rounded bony tympanum j; the greatest transverse diameter of this part, from i to j, is 1 inch 1 twelfth. The bronchi, k k, are of moderate size, covered with a dense layer of adipose matter.
LEAST WATER RAIL.
Rallus jamaicensis, Gmel.
PLATE CCCXLIX. Male and Young.