56 LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



Mr. Edwin Carter informs me that this species breeds in Colorado, though its eggs 

 or nest have not been seen. In the summer of 187G he met with a pair with young 

 just from the shell. 



Mr. Henry W. Elliott mentions finding these Ducks common on and around the 

 shores of the Prybilof Islands, where they were idly floating amid the surf in flocks 

 of fifty or sixty, or basking and preening their feathers on the beaches and outlying 

 rocks. They were to be seen all the year round, excepting only when forced away 

 by the ice-floes. Their nests, however, eluded his search ; and although he was quite 

 confident that they bred either on the rocky beaches or on the high ridges inland, the 

 natives themselves were entirely unacquainted with their eggs. Mr. Elliott's expe- 

 rience in relation to this bird differs, it will be observed, from that of most natu- 

 ralists who have met with it, since these represent it as essentially solitary, and as 

 being generally found either alone or in pairs. Those birds seen by Mr. Elliott were 

 not particularly wild or sh}', and numbers were killed by the natives every fall and 

 spring. This species is said to be remarkably silent ; he heard from it no cry what- 

 ever during the entire year. It seemed to be decidedly gregarious, solitary pairs 

 never straying away from the flock : the females apparently outnumbered the males 

 two to one. 



Professor Kumlien informs me that lumters have repeatedly given him descriptions 

 of a Duck corresponding in the peculiarities of its plumage with no other species than 

 this, and said to occur in the lakes of Southern Wisconsin ; but he had never met with 

 it himself. He mentions seeing three examples of this species, one of which was 

 secured at Annaanaatook. This was not an uncommon bird in the Godthaab district, 

 on the Greenland coast. 



According to Mr. L. Belding, "several pairs of this Duck breed every summer on 

 the Stanislaus River, Calaveras Co., Cal., as low down as four thousand feet altitude, 

 and perhaps lower." At this locality Mr. Belding saw, on June 30, 1881, two flocks, 

 consisting of young birds with their j)arents, the former at least a month old ; July 

 5, 1881, five flocks, also consisting of young and old, were seen ; and July 20, another 

 flock. Mr. Belding further remarks that this is the only species of Duck he has seen 

 in that part of the country in summer, while he also favors us with the following 

 notes : " These birds, young and old, tumble over and through rapids and cascades in 

 an astonishing manner. The crop and gizzard of one I dissected were full of insects, 

 partly, if not principally, the Caddis Ely ; and I could not ascertain that it had been 

 eating fish, although shot in a trout-stream. The flesh, while not a luxury, is not 

 oft'ensive to taste or smell. Wilson praises it ; but as he also praises the flesh of the 

 Euddy Duck {Erismatura ruhida) and that of the Shoveller {Spatula clypeata), I 

 am reminded not only that tastes dift'er, but also that birds may vary in the flavor 

 of their flesh, according to food or other causes ; for certain it is that the two last- 

 mentioned Ducks are considered very inferior food on the Pacific coast." 



The eggs of this Duck are of a rounded oval form, measure 2.20 inches by 1.70, 

 and are of a dark brownish-gray color. 



Genus HARELDA, Leach. 



Earelda, Leach, Steph. Gen. Zool. XII. 1824, 174 (type, Anas glacialis, Linn.). 

 Pagonetta, Kaup, Eut. Eniop. Thierw. 1829, 66 (same type). 

 Crymonessa, Macg. Man. Brit. Oni. II. 1842, 185 (same type). 

 Melonetta, SuNU. Teut. 1872, 149 (same type). 



