98 DUCK SHOOTING. 



blackish-brown mark near the tip, giving a decidedly 

 mottled appearance. Under tail-coverts blackish, with 

 outer margins of inner webs reddish-buff; those of 

 outer webs buffy white. The four middle tail feathers 

 btackish-brown, the others brownish. Under surface 

 of all tail feathers light gray. The speculum is metal- 

 lic purple, its feathers tipped with white. Length 

 about 19 inches, wing 10 inches. 



These three forms are so much alike that it is not 

 probable that the average gunner will be able to dis- 

 tinguish them apart. They occupy different regions, 

 and while their ranges probably overlap, it is not likely 

 that the southern forms are ever found much beyond 

 the regions which they are known to inhabit. 



The dusky duck, better known as black duck, is the 

 commonest of the fresh-water ducks of Eastern Can- 

 ada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the New Eng- 

 land coast, but when it gets as far south as the Chesa- 

 peake Bay and North Carolina it finds there its relative, 

 the mallard, in numbers as great as its own and as- 

 sociates with it on terms of equality. 



The black duck, while feeding almost exclusively In 

 fresh water, by no means avoids the sea coast. On 

 the contrary, in the New England States it spends most 

 of the day resting on the salt water and only visits 

 the inland streams, swamps and marshes to feed dur- 

 ing the night. In these localities it does not disdain 

 such salt-water food as it may pick up, and in the early 

 morning at low tide I have seen great flocks of these 



