Plate CCCCII. Fig. 3. Adult.
Bill deep red, much shorter than the head, stout, upper mandible with
a roundish, compressed, decurvate, greyish-blue knob on its ridge,
between the nostrils, which are covered by a projecting operculum;
tail of fourteen feathers; feet dusky grey; general colour of upper
parts brownish-black; fore part and sides of head streaked with
linear, acuminate, white feathers; tips of secondaries also white;
cheeks and a small portion of the throat at the base of the bill
dusky; lower parts white, mottled with dusky, the tips of the feathers
being of that colour.
_Adult_, 6, wing, 4.
North-west coast of America.
Knobbed-billed Phaleris, Phaleris nodirostris, Bonap. Aud.
Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 101.
GENUS IV. MERGULUS, Ray. SEA-DOVE.
Bill shorter than the head, stout, nearly straight, subpentagonal at
the base, compressed towards the end; upper mandible with the dorsal
line convexo-declinate, the ridge convex, the sides sloping, the edges
sharp and overlapping, the tip rather obtuse; nasal depression short
and broad; nostrils basal, oblong; lower mandible with the angle long
and wide, the dorsal line ascending, straight, the sides convex,
toward the end ascending and flattened, the edges sharp and inclinate,
the tip acute, with a sinus behind. Head large, ovate; neck short and
thick; body full and compact. Feet short, rather stout; tibia bare for
a very short space; tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly covered
with oblique scutella; hind toe wanting; anterior toes connected by
entire webs, the third and fourth nearly equal. Claws rather small,
moderately arched, compressed, rather acute. Plumage dense, glossy
blended. Wings of moderate length, narrow, pointed; the first quill
longest; secondaries rounded. Tail very short, slightly rounded, of
twelve feathers.