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The Eared or Horned DoB-CHI CK.
r H I S Bird is about the Bignefs of a Teal; it hath fmall Wings, and large
T Legs and Feet in Proportion to its Body. I take it to be a Cock Bird, and
be-
lieve I have already described its Hen, in P. 96. of this Work, the fecond
described
Bird i the under defcribed differs from that in being a little Bigger, in
being more
Buffle-headed, and in having its Colours a little brighter. The Bill from
its Point to
the Angles of the Mouth is an Inch and a Quarter long; the Wing when clofed
fix
Inches long; the Leg an Inch and three Quarters; the middle Toe two Inches
long.
The Bill is ftraight and fharp-pointed; the Tip of it White; the Bafe of
the
lower Mandible Flefb-colour'd, the Remainder Black, or Dufky; the Nofirils
are
placed in Furrows ; it hath alfo fome oblique Indentures on the Sides of
the lower
Mandible; from the Corner of the Mouth to the Eye there paffes a Line of
Skin,
bare of Feathers, of a red Colour; the Head is cover'd with long black Feathers,
with a fhining green Glofs, and appears much bigger than it is.  From behind
the
Eyes, immediately on each Side, paffes a Line of long, loofe, yellowifl,
Orange-
colour'd Feathers, which almoft join on the Hinder-part of the Head, and
bang a
little downward, and form a Kind of Creft; the Hinder-part of tiie Neck and
the
Back is of a blackifh Brown; the Coverts of the Wings are Afh-colour'd; it
hath
about thirty Quills in each Wing, fome of the firft of which are Dufky or
Blackifl,
then follow about a dozen White ones; the Remainder of the Quills next the
Back
are (like the Back) of a dirty Brown; the inner Coverts of the Wings are
White;
the inner Web of the Quills within Side, appears alfo Whitifh; the Neck fuddenly
appears fmall below the Buffle-Head; the Fore-part of the Neck, and Beginning
of
the Breaft is of a reddifb Orange-Colour, a little broken into the White
on the
Breaft; the whole Belly is White, with a Silver-like Glofs. On the Sides,
for the
whole Length of the Body, where the dark Brown of the Back joins with the
White on the Belly, there is a Mixture of dirty Orange-Colour, blended equally
into
the Brown of the upper Side, and the White on the Nether. It hath no Appearance
of a Tail. The Legs are placed at the End of the Body, and the Thighs are
fo'
bound within the Skin that they cannot be moved backward or forward as
in other Birds; fo that, when on Land, they muft of Necefflty walk upright.
The
Legs are flat and broad, the better to cut the Water; the three Toes that
Rland for-
ward have fliff Webs or Fins on each Side of every Toe, and are divided from
each other almoft to their Bottoms; the hinder Toe has only one little Web;
the
Nails onl the Toes are broad and flat, like thofe on human Fingers; the Legs
are bare
kne&'d (but not above the Knees) and toothed or jagged on their Hinder-parts,
of a
4lueifl Afh-Colour on their outer Sides, and inclining to Flefh-Colour on
their lnfides.
This Bird was brought from Hudfon's-Bay by Mr. Ijham, and I believe it to
be
a Non-defcript Species, but not confined, to America only; for that described,
P.
9q6, which I fuppofe to be the Hen of this, was taken near Londoi, but was
there
lo rare as not to be known.
2