90 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



!•; 



Total length, about 17 to 19 inches ; extent, 29 to 34. Male: Wing, 8.75-9.50 ; culnien, 1.65- 

 1.80 ; tarsus, 1.65-2.00 ; middle toe, 2.50-2.80. Female, slightly smaller. 



Having only three European examples of <~Edc- 

 mia before us, the material at our command for a 

 ,--:_r=r-"— satisfactory comparison with CE. americana is not 



as extensive as could be desired. Two of these 

 specimens, a male and a female received from 

 Schliiter, appear to be the genuine CE. nigra, since 

 they differ very decidedly from all American speci- 

 mens ; but the third, an adult male (No. 15584, 

 Feb. 8, 1844), from Baron von Muller, is entirely 

 identical with the American bird, and may be an 

 American specimen. Setting aside this latter ex- 

 ample, the differences between the two species are 

 verj obvious, consisting of the following points : 

 The male of CE. nigra has the bill black, including 

 the basal knob, the culmen having a shield-shaped 

 patch of yellow, extending back to the base of the 

 knob, and reaching Forward nearly to the nail ; 

 the end of the bill is altogether more depressed 

 than in CE. americana, the top of the nail being 

 nearly flat, instead of very strongly convex. The 

 female also has the bill conspicuously flattened terminally, as in the male, and also at the base, 

 the maxilla being only about .55 instead of .70 deep. (See accompanying outline figures of the 

 maxilke of the females of the two species.) There is scarcely any difference in plumage, in either 

 sex, between tin; two species. 



Ffiimlf 



Except tlic differences of form mid plumage, there is very little in the history of 

 this bird to distinguish it from its common associates, the Velvei and the Surf Ducks, 

 the habits, movements, and distribution of these different species appearing to be sub- 

 stantially tin 1 same. This Duck is common in the winter on both the Pacific and the 

 Atlantic coasts, and along their entire length, tit different portions of the year. It is 

 perhaps a 6rifle earlier in its migrations southward, and it may linger later in the 

 spring. During September and Octoher, and again in March and April, it is espe- 

 cially common on the coast of New England, and is found present to a greater or 

 less extent (luring the whole winter. It breeds in the extreme north, but docs not 

 appear to have been found by Mr. MacFarlane at such times in company with the 

 Surf and Velvet Ducks in the neighborhood of Fort Anderson. It visits the Greal 

 Lakes, and is especially common in the winter upon Lake Michigan. 



Sir John Richardson says, in regard to this Duck, that it feeds almost exclusively 

 in the open sea, that its flesh is always oily and strongly flavored, and that it fre- 

 quents the shores of Hudson's Hay, breeding there between the 50th and the 60th 

 parallels of latitude, lie also states that he never saw it at any season of the year 

 in the interior id' the country. 



Hearne writes that at his time — 1780 — -this Duck was one of the most common 



