510 APPENDIX. 



tips of the wing coverts also exhibit various degrees of white. 

 Tertiaries mostly like the back; but their tips are darker, and 

 their extreme edges soiled white. Outer tail feathers entirely 

 white ; the next pair white at both extremities, the others show- 

 ing successively less white, and the central ones, as has been men- 

 tioned, entirely brown. 



Form. — Outer web of the feet notched, including only the first 

 joint of the outer toe ; and merely two thirds of the corresponding 

 phalanx of the middle toe. Inner web scarcely perceptible. 



Inch. lin. Inch. lin. 



Length of tail - -23 



folded wing ■ 4 8| 



tarsus - - 10| 



Length from tip of bill i 

 to end of tail - 



Length of middle toe and ~| ' „ , 

 nail - - j° 8 * 

 Length of bill above - 6 

 bill to rictus 1\ 



The Mallard. {Arias boschas Auct.) F. B. A. 2. p. 442. 



This duck is stated by Mr. Audubon to be rare on the 

 Atlantic coast of the United States, but to be more 

 numerous in the interior, and to breed as far south as 

 Kentucky and Indiana. It is very generally diffused 

 through the fur countries up to the northern extremity 

 of the woods, and is the weightiest and best duck that 

 resorts thither. Of the true ducks (the anatince of 

 Swainson), the shoveller passes through the fur coun- 

 tries in about equal numbers with the mallard, but 

 breeds farther north, on the barren grounds. The 

 gadwall and widgeon breed in all parts of the woody 

 country, though in smaller numbers than the preced- 

 ing ones ; while the green-winged teal, on the other 

 hand, is much more numerous, and breeds on the 

 banks of every river and lake, both in the woody 

 and barren districts. The blue-winged teal is also 

 numerous, to the southward of the Athabasca country; 

 and the summer-duck is rare on the Saskatchewan, 

 and does not tmvel farther north. These ducks 

 arrive from the south as soon as the snow melts, and 



