I04 DUCK SHOOTING. 



ular or shoulder feathers are fringed with reddish- 

 brown; the greater coverts at the bend of the wing 

 bright chestnut. Speculum white, edged beneath with 

 velvety black, and with broad patch of same in front, be- 

 tween the white and the chestnut. Belly and under tail- 

 coverts black; tail gray, fading to white at the edges; 

 the rest of the under parts white. The bill is bluish-black 

 and the legs and feet yellow, with dusky webs. The 

 adult female is much like the male, except that she is 

 duller throughout and she generally lacks the black of 

 the full plumaged male. Usually there is no chestnut on 

 the wing, but the speculum is white and the bird may 

 be known from any other fresh-water ducks by this 

 character. The young are still more dull in color. 

 Often the speculum is indistinct, but there is usually 

 enough of it, with the bill, to identify the species. Mr. 

 Gurdon Trumbull was the first to call attention to the 

 presence in highly plumaged males of a well-defined 

 black ring, extending almost around the neck, between 

 the lighter feathers of the head and neck and the 

 darker ones of the breast. 



The gadwall duck is distributed over almost the 

 whole northern hemisphere, being found alike in Eu- 

 rope, Asia, Africa and North America. At the same 

 time it is not an abundant bird anywhere, apparently 

 never occurring in large flocks nor even in frequent 

 small ones. 



In North America, however, its distribution is gen- 

 eral, but is chiefly westward. Still it has been found 

 breeding on the island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. 



