THE SUMMER D U C R. 181 



tnd markings, from those of the full-grown male, except 

 the head and neck not being of so deep a black. The 

 membrane on the forehead was not more than half the 

 size of that of the female specimen, described above, and it 

 was of the same colour, viz., dark chestnut. All the birda 

 which I have ever seen, had this appendage of the same 

 colour. 



In Lewis and Clark's history of their expedition, mention 

 is made of a bird which is common on the Columbia; is 

 said to be very noisy, to have a sharp, shrill whistle, and 

 io associate in large flocks ; it is called the Black Duck. 

 This is doubtless a species of Coot, but whether or not dif- 

 ferent from ours, cannot be ascertained. How much is it 

 to be regretted; that, in an expedition of discovery, planned 

 and fitted out by an enlightened government, furnished 

 with every means for safety, subsistence, and research, not 

 one naturalist, not one draughtsman, should have been sent, 

 to observe and perpetuate the infinite variety of natural 

 productions, many of which are entirely unknown to the 

 community of science, which that extensive tour must have 

 revealed ! 



THE SUMMER, or WOOD DUCK. (Anas i^onsa.) 



This most beautiful of Ducks (says Nuttall) seems to b€ 

 dressed in a studied attire, to which the addition of a floW' 



