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FULIGULA SPECTABLIS— LINN. 



KING DUCK. 



Fuligula spectablis, Bonap. Syn. 

 Somateria spectablis, King Dnck, Sw. & Rich. 

 King Duck, Fuligula spectablis, Nutt. Man. 

 King Duck, Ful gula spectablis, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Chaarcter — Length of bill from the termination of the 

 frontlet feathers, which extend over the gibbous substance at the base 

 of the upper mandible one inch and a quarter — tarsi one inch and 

 a half, tail long, rounded, the feathers pointed. Aduh male with the 

 bill pale yellow ; at the base of upper mandible a compressed gib* 

 bous substance, the color bright orange, the front covered with short 

 black feathers, the sides margined with the same color, the feathers 

 extending back in a point nearly to the eye. Head bluish-gray, dark- 

 est on the hind head ; cheeks shaded with sea-green, a spot of black 

 below the eye inclining posteriorly ; on the throat two lines of black 

 forming an inverted V; middle of the neck white ; lower neck and 

 fore part of the breast buff; lower plumage blackish-brown ; a large 

 spot of white on either side of the rump, fore part of the back same 

 color, posteriorly black. Wings and tail brown, the former broadly 

 marked with white ; in the adult the secondaries curve over the pri- 

 maries, but this character I have never observed in the young. — 

 Length twenty-five inchss, wing ten inches and three-fourths. — 

 Young, dark brown, margined with whitish, lighter on the neck ; 

 the gibbous substance on the upper mandible scarcely perceptible. 



This remarkable Duck is seldom seen within the limits of the U. 

 States, although I had the good fortune to add to my collection an 

 adult male in perfect plumage, that v.'as shot on Long Island Sound, 

 in the winter of 1839. 



The King Duck is an inhabitant of the higher latitudes of loth 

 con tinents ; feeds at sea, and only resorts to land for the purpose of- 

 reproduction. It is nearly allied to the Eider Duck, and equally 

 valuable for the superior quality of its down. 



During winter — at Egg Harbor as well as on the shores of Long 

 Island — the young are occasionally observed. But the adult speci- 

 men now in my posssssion, and one other, are the only individuals 

 in full and mature plumage, that I have ever known to be procu- 

 red in the vicinity of New- York. 



