LABRADOR DUCK. I93 



The female has the plumage of a general brownish- 

 gray tint. The tertiaries are ashy-gray, edged with 

 black, and the secondaries, white, forming a distinct 

 wing patch. The bird is about 20 inches in length. 



The Labrador duck, or, as it is sometimes called, the 

 pied duck, is one of our North American birds which 

 has already become extinct, and this only within a com- 

 paratively few years. It was a bird of the sea-coast and 

 was formerly not uncommon along the Atlantic, as far 

 south as New Jersey, yet it seems never to have been 

 very abundant. Giraud, who wrote in 1843, said of it : 

 "This species is called by our gunners 'skunk duck,' so 

 named from the similarity of its markings to that ani- 

 mal. With us it is rather rare, chiefly inhabiting the 

 western side of the continent. In New Jersey it is 

 called 'sand-shoal duck,' It subsists on small shell and 

 other fish, which it procures by diving. Its flesh is not 

 considered a delicacy. A few are seen in our market 

 every season." 



In the years 1871, '72 and 'y;^ specimens were occa- 

 sionally exposed for sale in the New York markets, but 

 even at that time the bird had become so rare that orni- 

 thologists were on the watch for it, and as soon as a 

 specimen was exposed for sale it was bought up. 



The pied duck was a strong flier and apparently well 

 able to take care of itself, and its practical extinction 

 took place before gunning was practiced on any very 

 great scale. It was not especially sought for as a table 

 bird, and no satisfactory reason has as yet been ad- 

 vanced for its disappearance. The number of speci- 



