636 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



Through the efforts of Professor Alfred Newton and his brother Ed- 

 ward a large collection of bones of the Solitaire was obtained frouii 

 Rodriguez in 1866, these remains forming the basis for a very complete 

 account of the osteology of the bird. These bones were procured from 

 caves, but owing to the impossibility of securing intelligent supervis- 

 ion, little can be said concerning their probable age, except that all 

 seem to long antedate the settlement of the island. It is interesting to 

 note that the wing bones corroborate Leguat's description of the Soli- 

 taire, for they show the presence of a rounded callosity at the angle 

 of the wing, just about the size of an old fashioned musket ball. 



AUTHORITIES. 



The Dodo anrl its Kindred. H. G. Strickland and A. G. Melville. London, 1848. 

 Article Dodo, Alfred Newton. Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume VII, ninth edi- 

 tion. 



On the Osteology of the Solitaire or Didine Bird of Rodriguez. Alfred and Edward 

 Newton : Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Loudon, 1869, pp.; 

 327-362. 



THE LABRADOR DUCK. 



( Camptolaimu8 labradorius.) 



The Labrador Duck was one of the many sea ducks which, during 

 their southern migration, furnished considerable sport to gunners along 

 the coast. In size and appearance it was not unlike the familiar Old 

 Wife, or Quaudy (Hardda glacialis), to which, indeed, it is nearly re- 

 lated. The body and primaries of the male are black, the rest of the 

 wing, head and neck white, with a black collar and longitudinal stripe 

 on the crown. (Plate CII.) The female is plumbeous gray, slightly 

 darker on the under side. This duck ranged southward in winter to the 

 coast of New Jersey and Chesapeake Bay, its summer habitat and breed-i 

 ing ground being, according to Audubon, southern Labrador. It is by 

 no meaus impossible, however, that the empty nests ascribed to the Lab- 

 rador Duck may have been those of the Eider (Somateria Dresseri), as 

 they were found on the breeding grounds of that species, and are said tc 

 have resembled them in shape and size. While the Labrador Duck 

 seems to never have been very common, it was not sufficiently rare tc 

 attract the notice of collectors, and hence a very small number of speci 

 mens, about thirty-six, are in existence. Considerable interest is at-i 

 tached to two of these specimens in the U. S. National Museum, as they 

 were collected by no less a person than Daniel Webster, and figured by 

 Audubon. Webster was an enthusiastic sportsmau, and his home at 

 Marshfield, close by Brant Rock, was one of the best localities for sea 

 shooting on the coast of Massachusetts. The ducks in question, how 

 ever, came from Vineyard Island. The bird, so Audubon tells us, wan 

 frequently for sale in the markets of New York and Baltimore, and. 

 according to the same authority, a "bird stuffer" of Camden, New 



