190 DUCK SHOOTING. 



the neck, the bar on the side of the breast, bordered with 

 black. A strip from the forehead to the back of the 

 neck, black, bordered with rufous. The rest of the 

 head and neck is dark lead color, sometimes almost 

 blackish, and with glossy reflections. The rump, upper 

 and under tail-coverts are black ; quills of the wing and 

 tail, dusky; sides and flanks, bright tan, inclining to 

 reddish. The bill and feet are bluish-gray; length 

 about 17 inches. 



The adult female has the space between the eyes and 

 bill and a spot behind the ear, white; the rest of the 

 head and neck are dark brown, darkest on top; wings 

 and tail blackish ; the other parts reddish-brown, except 

 the belly, which is white. 



The harlequin duck is one of the most striking and 

 beautiful of our ducks. It is one of our most northern 

 species and not very much is known about it. On the 

 Atlantic coast it is seldom found south of Maine. It is 

 a bird of the Old World as well as the New, and, in fact, 

 is found over the northern portions of both hemi- 

 spheres. British ornithologists, however, have de- 

 clared that it is only a straggler on the European conti- 

 nent, but that it occurs regularly in Iceland and Eastern 

 Asia. On the other hand, we know that it is commonly 

 found during the summer in the northern Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and I have seen the birds, evidently mated, in the 

 Sierra Nevadas, in June. There, Mr. Ridgway tells 

 me that it breeds as far south, at least, as Calaveras 

 County, California. 



All through the summer months in Northwestern 



