LONG-TAILED DUCK. 259 



by our Arctic voyagers at Greenland and as far as the North 

 Georgian Isles. It was also particularly noticed by Dr. 

 Richardson, Captain James Ross, and Mr. King. The first 

 coloured representations of this species, in two states of 

 plumage, are, probably, those of our countryman, Edwards, 

 plates 156 and 280, both taken from male birds, the first 

 brought from Hudson's Bay, in summer plumage; the 

 second from Newfoundland, in the plumage of winter. 



It is well known in North America and the United 

 States ; its habits are detailed by the Ornithologists of that 

 country, Messrs. Wilson, Audubon, and Nuttall, and it is 

 stated to have been found in winter as far south as Carolina. 

 Mr. Audubon says, " in the course of one of my rambles 

 along the borders of a large fresh-water lake, near Bras d''or, 

 in Labrador, on the 28th of July, 1833, I was delighted by 

 the sight of several young broods of this species of duck, all 

 carefully attended to by their anxious and watchful mothers. 

 Not a male bird was on the lake, which was fully two miles 

 distant from the sea, and I concluded that in this species, as 

 in many others, the males abandon the females after incu- 

 bation has commenced." Both sexes are active, noisy, and 

 restless. 



The adult male in winter has the nail, and the basal half 

 of the bill black, the intermediate portion pale reddish- 

 brown ; the irides hazel ; the cheeks and ear-coverts, in- 

 cluding the space round the eye, brownish-buff; below this 

 on each side of the neck an oval patch of dark brown, in- 

 clining to chestnut-brown at the lower margin ; forehead, top 

 of the head, back, and front of the neck, and the lower part 

 of the neck all round, below the dark brown patch, pure 

 white ; the middle line of the back, the rump, and the elon- 

 gated tail-feathers nearly black ; scapulars, tertials, and short 

 outside tail-feathers white ; wing-coverts and primaries dark 

 brownish-black ; the secondaries reddish-brown ; the whole 

 of the breast black ; belly, sides, flanks, vent, and under 



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