ANATIN^ — THE DUCKS — ANAS. 499 



At the north its nest is always found among trees, and within two or three rods 

 of the water — never in moist places among marshes unprotected by trees, nor at 

 any considerable distance from water. The nest is large, the base very unartiticial, 

 consisting usually of a simple depression among the leaves, but warmly lined with 

 down and feathers. In JSTortheru Illinois it was frequently found nesting on the 

 prairie at the edges of sloughs. 



At the north the old males moult while the females are incubating, the females 

 moulting some two weeks later, -after the young are hatched. The males remain 

 near the nest some time after the females begin to incubate ; but before the young 

 leave the nest they collect in small parties of three or four, and go ofl: by themselves. 

 He rarely observed them accompanying the mother and her young. The young broods 

 seek the protection of the reeds and grass, and are rarely seen, like the Sea Ducks, 

 on open rivers or lake's. In summer, the young, before they can fly, and while the 

 old birds are moulting, are very fat, and are killed in great numbers by the Indians. 

 The hunter stands erect in his canoe, paddling silently along the lakes they frequent. 

 Upon his approach they seek the grassy edges, where they cannot so readily dive, 

 and the movement of the grass betraying their course, they are easily killed with 

 arrows, or even with the paddle. At Fort Yukon he saw an Indian kill thirty young 

 Ducks in two or three hours. 



In the United States this Duck ranks among the first as an article of food, and 

 when fattened on wild rice, in autumn, is superior even to the Canvas-back fed on 

 valUsnena ; but in the far north it loses its fine flavor. In the spring it is lean and 

 tough ; and in summer, until after it leaves for the south, its flavor is spoiled by the 

 stagnant marshy water in which it feeds. 



The northern Indians acknowledge this species as the type of all Ducks, simply 

 calling it, in their various languages, '' Big Duck." The Canadians and French half- 

 breeds call it the '' Canard frangais ;^' while the English call it the "Stock Duck." 



Mr. Dall states that its Indian name at N'ulato is Nintdla ; it is one of the first 

 of the Ducks to arrive in spring, it generally appearing, about the 1st of May, in com- 

 pany with Bucephala alheola. It is common both on the sea-coast and in the interior. 

 He found its eggs, eight in number, in a rotten stump about six inches above the 

 level of the ground, laid directly on the wood, and covered with dead leaves and a 

 few feathers. 



The eggs of the Mallard are usually grayish Avhite, with a more or less decided 

 tinge of green ; in some the green is quite prominent. Three eggs from Dubuque, 

 la. (Smithsonian Institution, IsTo. 9834), measure respectively, 2.35 by 1.70 inches ; 

 2.20 by 1.70 ; 2.40 by 1.70 ; two from the Yukon (Smithsonian Institution, No. 6570) 

 measure 2.45 by 1.75, and 2.55 by 1.80. The least length is 2.10 inches, and the 

 smallest breadth 1.50. 



Anas obscura. 



THE BLACK MALLAED; DUSKY DUCK. 



Anas obscura, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 178S, 541. — Wils. Am. Orn. VIII. 1814, 141; pi. 72, f. 5. — 

 NuTT. Man. II. 1834, 392. — ArD. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 15, pi. 302; Synop. 1839, 276; B. 

 Am. VI. 1843, 244, pi. 386. — Baiud, B. N. Am. 1858, 775; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 577.— 

 CoTTES, Key, 1872, 285 ; Check List, 1873, no. 489 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 708 ; B. N. W. 1874, 560. 

 — EiDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 602. 



Hab. Eastern North America, west to Utah and Texas, north to Labrador. Cuba ? 

 Sp. Char. Adult : Prevailing color brownish black or dusky, the feathers edged, more or less 

 distinctly, with pale grayish fuh'ous. Head and neck about erpially streaked with grayish white 



