425 



DUCKS. 



DUCKS. 



426 



in safety to a piece of water at a considerable distance. Others have 

 been known to breed in trees ; and we recollect the nest of this bird 

 being found in the head of an old pollard willow, impending the 

 water, from whence the young might readily drop unhurt into their 

 natural element. Mr. Tunstall mentions one, at Etchinghain, in 

 Sussex, which was found sitting upon nine eggs, on an oak-tree, 

 twenty-five feet from the ground : and the author of the ' Rural 

 Sports'* records an instance of one taking possession of the nest of a 

 hawk in a large oak. To these we can add, upon the testimony of a 

 gentleman of the strictest veracity, that out of a large flock of half- 

 domesticated ducks, one deposited her eggs in the principal fork of a 

 large tree near his house." The eggs are 10 to 14, of a bluish- 

 white ; the female, when she quits the nest for food, covers them with 

 down and other substances. 



In a domesticated state it is most widely distributed. All the 

 varieties that the fancy of the breeder can produce are to be seen in 

 the various poultry-yards. To say nothing of the Aylesbury and 

 other breeds, where size and delicacy of flesh have been principally 

 considered, we find penguin ducks standing nearly erect, hooked-bill 

 ducks, and even a variety where the caprice of man has succeeded in 

 nearly obliterating the webs of the feet, and curtailing the bill till it 

 hag lost its spatulate shape and is become a deformity, bearing some 

 resemblance to the bill of a common fowL Some of these birds have 

 been shown as the offspring of a cock and a duck, we need hardly 

 say, without the slightest foundation for the monstrous assertion. 

 Selby observes, that in the domesticated varieties the peculiar specific 

 distinction of the curled feathers of the tail is still retained. In China 

 and the other countries of the East, numbers of ducks are hatched 

 by artificial means. 



Latham states that the male Muscovy Duck and common duck will 

 breed together. The young bear a greater resemblance to the 

 common duck than to the Muscovy Duck. 



Mareca, Stephens. In ' Fauna Boreali-Americana,' Mr. Swainson 

 places the genera Mareca and Dendroneita in his sub-family Anatina. 



Bill of Widgeon (Mar 



Selby says that the Widgeon* are distinguished from the Teals by a 

 much shorter and less cylindrical bill ; and from the Ducks, by that 

 member becoming more contracted and narrow, instead of widening 

 towards its tip. The lamina; of the bill are also broader and set 

 wider apart, approaching in form nearer to those of the sub-family 

 Antenna. These birds, he adds, also vary in their habits, for instead 

 of searching and sifting the mud with their bills for insects, seeds, &c., 

 upon which food most of the other genera live, they subsist princi- 

 pally on grasses and vegetable diet, which they pluck in the same 

 manner as geese. Their flight is strong and swift, and they have a 

 peculiar shrill whistling call-note. In the shape of the tracheal 

 labyrinth they resemble the Pintail more than any other species : the 

 middle feathers of the tail are also acute, and considerably longer 

 than the rest 



M. Americana (Stephens), American Widgeon. This is the Amu 

 Americana of Qmelin and of Sabine, in Franklaud's 'Journal,' and 

 Atheekemow-weeshep of the Cree Indians. 



The following is a description of a male killed on the Saskatchewan, 

 May, 1827 : A white band from the forehead to the nape, bounded 

 behind the eye by a broad dark-green patch, which ends hi the nuchal 

 crest. Upper part and sides of the breast brownish-red, glossed with 

 gray. Base of the neck above, interscapulars, scapulars, and flanks, 

 minutely undulated with brownish-red and black ; hind part of the 

 back undulated in a similar manner with clove-brown and white, the 

 latter colour prevailing on the tail-coverts. Lesser wing-coverts, 

 I'Hiimrirs, and tail, clove-brown ; intermediate and greater coverts, 

 sides of the rump, breast, and belly, pure white. Speculum velvet- 

 black Mow, duck-green above, bounded superiorly with black and 

 posteriorly with white. Exterior webs of the tertiaries, and lateral 



and inferior tail-coverts, greenish-black, the first bordered with white. 

 Bill bluish-gray, bordered and tipped with black. 



The bill is particularly short, being not so long as the head, armed 

 with laminas resembling those of the mallard. Plumage of the nape 

 somewhat lengthened. Wings, above an inch shorter than the 

 acutely-pointed tail, which consists of 14 feathers. Total length, 23 

 inches. The female has the upper plumage dark liver-brown, edged 

 and remotely barred with pale-brown and white. The intermediate 

 wing-coverts are merely edged with white, and there is no green on 

 the head. Tail, shorter and not so tapering. Total length about two 

 inches less than the male. (Richardson.) 



American Widgeon (Mareca Americana). 



Wilson says this bird is very common in winter along the whole 

 coast from Florida to Rhode Island ; but most abundant in Carolina, 

 where it frequents the rice plantations. In Martinico great flocks 

 take short flights from one rice-field to another during the rainy 

 season, and are much complained of by the planters. They are said 

 to be in great plenty in St. Domingo and Guyana, where they are 

 called Vingeon or Gingeon. Are said sometimes to perch on trees. 

 Feed in company (but little in the day), and have a sentinel on the 

 watch. Come out from their hiding-places in the evening. Are not 

 known to breed in any part of the United States. Are common in 

 the winter months along the bays of Egg Harbour and Cape May, 

 and also those of the Delaware. They leave their places in April, and 

 appear upon the coast of Hudson's Bay in May, as soon as the thaws 

 come on, chiefly in pairs ; lay there only from six to eight eggs, and 

 feed on flies and worms in the swamps ; depart in flocks in autumn. 

 (Wilson here quotes Hutchins.) Wilson further states, that the 

 Widgeon is extremely fond of the tender roots of that particular species 

 of aquatic plant on which the Canvass-Back Duck, so abundant in 

 Chesapeak Bay, feeds. The Widgeon is its constant companion ; and 

 the Widgeon, which never dives, watches the moment of the Canvass- 

 Back's rising with the morsel for which the latter bird has dived, and 

 before he has his eyes well opened, snatches it and makes off. On 

 this account the Canvass-Backs and Widgeons, or, as they are called 

 round the bay, Bald Pates, live in a state of perpetual contention. 



Dendronessa (Swainson). Head crested. Bill as high at the base 

 as it is broad; towards the tip narrow and contracted. Nostrils 

 placed towards the middle of the bill. Tertial feathers ornamented. 

 Feet as in Anns. Type, Dendronesaa galericulata, Chinese Teal. 

 Edwards, pi. 102. 



Mr. Swainson, who thus characterises the genus, observes (' Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana') that "this is obviously the Rasorial type of the 

 Anatina. The D. spowa, by the lateral advancement of the bill 

 towards the eye, is a more aberrant species, and shows the connection 

 of the group to Somateria." 



D. tpona (Swainson), the Summer-Duck. This is the Wood- 

 Duck of Audubon, Ansee-awmo of the Chippeways, Anas sponsa of 

 Linnaeus. 



The following is a description of a male killed at Cumberland 

 House, lat. 54; June, 1827. Head above and space between the 

 eye and bill glossy dark-green ; cheeks and a large patch on the sides 

 of the throat purple, with blue reflections ; pendent occipital crest of 

 green and auricula purple, marked with two narrow white lines, one 

 of them terminating behind the eye, the other extending over the 

 eye to the bill ; sides of the neck purplish-red, changing on the front 

 of the neck and sides of the breast to brown, and there spotted with 

 white. Scapulars, wings, and tail, exhibiting a play of duck-green, 

 purple, blue, and velvet-black colours ; interscapulars, posterior part 

 of the back, rump, and upper tuil-coverts, blackish green and purple; 

 several of the lateral coverts reddish-orange ; a hair-like, splendent, 

 reddish-purple tuft on each side of the rump ; the under coverts 

 brown. Chin, throat, a collar round the neck, a crescentic bar on 

 the ears, the middle of the breast, and whole of the abdomen, white. 

 Flanks yellowish-gray, finely undulated with black; the tips of the 



