LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 65 



it I missed it. This bird soenis to have disappeared, for an old comrade, 

 who has hunted in the same bay over GO yenrs, tells me he has not met with 

 cue for a long time. I am under the impression the males do not get their 

 full plumage in the second year. I would here remark, this duck has never 

 been esteemed for the table, from its strong, unsavory flesh. 



Probably the Labrador duck was never abundant or even very 

 common throu<rbout its known winter range; certainly we have 

 very little positive evidence to that effect. The statement, so often 

 quoted, of Thomas Morton in his New English Canaan (1637) may 

 not refer to this species at all. In writing of the birds noted by him 

 in Xew England between 1622 and 1630, he says " Ducks there are of 

 three kinds, pide ducks, gray ducks and black ducks in great abun- 

 dance." It seems to be taken for granted that bj^ the name " pide 

 ducks " he referred to the I^abrador duck. It seems to me much more 

 likely that he referred to the goldeneye, which is still called the " pied 

 duck " all along our northern coasts, or to one of several other species 

 called by that name or, perliaps, to a number of species in general 

 having more or less black and white plumages. Audubon (1840) 

 considered it rather rare, although he says : "Along the coast of New 

 Jersey and Long Island it occurs in greater or less number every 

 year."' 



Dekay (1844), writing of this species in New York, says: 



This duck, well known on this coast under the name of skunk head, and sand- 

 shoal duck on the coast of New Jersey, is not, however, very abundant. 



Walter J. Hoxie wrote to me a few years ago, as follows : 

 During my youthful experience among the ponds and creeks about the 

 mouth of the Merrimac w'e sometimes got a duck which we called a " black- 

 belly ■■ and many of the gunners considered it a cross with the " sea coots." In 

 the brackish ponds it was commonlj' found in company with the gadwall. or 

 as we called it, the " gray duck." We rather disdained it, and I remember too 

 it was hard to pick. Lots of down under the feathers that perhaps made us 

 think it was akin to the scoters. One I remember in " Bushy Pond " with a 

 gray duck on a frosty November evening. Did not seem to be as shy as its 

 companion, but kept moving about watching me as I crawled down with a 

 pine sapling for shelter. The old flintlock hung fire a little longer than usual, 

 and though they were both in line when I sighted the gray was too quick. To- 

 day that black-belly would not have been such a disappointment, though I had 

 to wade for it and the water was almost freezing. It must have been in 1862. 

 In 1S70 I saw out — perhaps mort; — in IJoston market. But one I know was tied 

 up with an American merganser. I bought the merganser and stuffed it. 



George N. Lawrence, in a letter to Mr. Butcher (1891), wrote: 



I recollect that about 40 or more years ago it was not unusual to see them in 

 Fulton Jlarket, and without doubt killed on Long Island ; at one time I re- 

 member seeing six fine males, which hung in the market until spoiled for the 

 want of a purchaser; they were not considered desirable for the table, and 

 collectors had a sufficient number, at that time a pair being considered enough 

 to represent a species in a collection. No one anticipated that they might be- 



