298 



KEY AND DESCEIPTION 



species is far more common in the interior than on the coast. 



It is the original form of the common domestic dnck, and its 



voice is the same quack. (Green- 

 head.) 



Length, 23; wing, 11 (10^12); 

 tail, 8i ; tarsus, If; culmen, 2f. 

 Northern hemisphere ; breeding from 

 the Gulf States nurthward, and win- 

 tering south to Central America. 



30. Black Duck (l.'*.'!. Anas 

 obscura). — A very dark-colored, 

 almost black duck, with a black- 

 l)ordered rich purple speculum. 

 The head is lighter, the cheeks 

 being a streaky buff. There is 

 no decided white except under 

 the wings, but there are buffy 

 margins to most of the feath- 

 ers. Tliis is more common along 

 the coasts 

 than the last, and can always be sepa- 

 rated from the female of that species 

 by the lack of white border to the spec- 

 ulum. In habits and voice it is like 

 the mallard. (Dusky Duck.) 



Length, 22; wing, 11 

 (10-11 J); tail, 3i; tar- 

 sus. If; culmen, L*; 

 Eastern North Amerir,, 

 west to the Mississipjii 

 Valley ; breeding from 

 New Jersey and Illinois 

 to Labrador, and win- 

 tering from the Middle 

 States to Cuba. 



Mallard 



31. Florida Duck 

 (134. A7ias fulvlgula). 



Black Dnok 



