584 THE BLACK DUCK. 
tary exile and renounces all domestic ties, while he undergoes a tedious and 
painful double moult. 
The female, left to herself, sits closely upon her eggs,—so closely, 
indeed, as occasionally to admit of capture by the hand, and she leaves the nest 
only after nightfall. At the end of four weeks the ducklings are brought 
off and led to water, where they become expert swimmers and divers, and 
learn above all things to secrete themselves instantly upon the maternal note 
of warning. ‘Those who have not tested their eyes by trying to gather up 
a hatful of ducklings while a distracted mother limped and quacked in the 
distance, have either never been boys or else have fallen upon a flabby age. 
Many hybrids between the Mallards and other ducks are known to 
science. One of the commoner forms is a cross between this bird and the 
Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) supposed to be the product of breeding 
in captivity. A hybrid between the Mallard and the Pintail is not uncom- 
mon in the interior, and there is a specimen in the collection of the Wynous 
Point Shooting Club, near Port Clinton, which shows common characters 
of the Mallard and the Black Duck. 
No. 282. 
BLACK DUCK. 
A. O. U. No. 133. Anas obscura Gmel. 
ish black; feet olivaceous brown or faintly tinged with reddish. Length 22.00 
(558.8) ; adult male wing 10.52 (267.2) ; bill 2.05 (52.1) ; bill from nostril 1.58 
(40.1) ; tarsus 1.65 (41.9). Adult female wing 10.14 (257.6) ; bill 1.93 (49) ; bill 
from nostril 1.52 (38.6) ; tarsus 1.61 (40.9) (Brewster). 
Recognition Marks.—Size of Mallard or a little smaller. Like female Mal- 
lard, but much darker,—sooty brown or blackish to appearance; no white bars on 
wing. Throat not streaked, and feet and legs not definitely red, as distinguished 
from A. o. rubripes. 
Nest, on the ground, among reeds or in grass near water; rather carelessly 
constructed of rushes or dried grass, and lined with feathers and down. Occa- 
sionally built in trees. Eggs, 8-12, elliptical, pale buff, or greenish buff. Av. size, 
ZAR exo 75 | (OL axaAAns ie 
General Range.—“Fastern North America, west to the Mississippi Valley, 
