186 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



brown one, confluent with the brown of the nape, reaching almost or quite to the rictus 

 Lower parts grayish white, strongly shaded with sooty brown across the chest. 

 Length, about 13.50-16.00; wing, 5.75-6.00; culmen, about 1.50-1.60. 



Although the collection of the National Museum contains nu- 

 merous examples of this species, only a small portion of them 

 have the sex indicated, while on a still smaller number is the 

 date noted. It is therefore difficult to determine satisfactorily, 

 from the material at hand, the seasonal and sexual differences 

 of plumage. Certain it is, however, that specimens in the 

 plumage described above as that of the adult male in full 

 plumage occur both in summer and winter. Audubon says 

 that the "adult female in summer" "presents the same char- 

 acters as in the male;" but although this may be true, the 

 series under examination affords no indication of it. He de- 

 scribes the "male one year old" as having "a similar white 

 patch on the side of the head ; upper part of head and hind 

 neck dull blackish brown; throat and sides of neck grayish brown, 

 lower part of neck dull reddish brown, waved with dusky; upper 

 parts as in the adult, but of a duller tint; lower parts grayish 

 white." 



Probably no North American duck has so extensive a breed- 

 ing range as the present species, since it breeds as far south as 

 Guatemala perhaps even farther; as far north as Great 

 Slave Lake, York Factory, and other localities in the subarctic 

 portions of the continent, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

 According to Professor Cooke, it winters from southern Illinois 

 southward. 



"Audubon noticed it in large numbers during the winter 

 months in Florida, sometimes shooting upwards of forty in a 

 single morning; and he was informed by Dr. Bachman that this 

 species had been becoming more and more abundant in South 

 Carolina; yet he had never met with an example in full summer 

 plumage. This duck seemed to be equally fond of salt, brackish, 

 and fresh water. In the Southern States it congregates in great 

 flocks. Its flight is ra.pid, with a whirring sound, occasioned 

 by the concave form of the wings. It rises from the water with 

 considerable difficulty, being obliged to assist itself with its 

 broad webbed feet, and for that purpose to run on the surface 

 for several yards. From the ground, however, it can spring up 

 at once. This duck swims with ease and grace and deeply im- 



