168 AQUATIC FOWL. 



quarter, is a percher on trees ; it is very common in Jamaica : I 

 have had them from Demerara. The bill is like that of tha 

 common duck, pectinated on the edges, hooked at the point, and 

 of a dusky colour. The sides of the head are brown, and the 

 top black, where the feathers are long, and point backwards in 

 the form of a crest ; the hinder part of the neck is dusky, but 

 the under sides of the head, neck, and throat are white. The 

 neck is speckled with small black spots, and the back, and upper 

 sides of the wings are brown ; the greater quills are dark brown, 

 and the covert feathers of the wings have black spots in their 

 middles. The tail is black, as well as the rump, and the feathers 

 that cover the tail above, which is a little pointed in the middle ; 

 the breast is of a bright reddish brown, spotted with black, and 

 mixed with a little white on the lower part ; the belly is white, 

 with a mixture of black on the sides, and a very little down the 

 middle ; the legs are longer than what is common in ducks, and 

 are bare of feathers a little above the knees ; the three forward 

 toes are webbed, and there is likewise a lateral web on the side 

 of the inner toe ; the legs and feet are lead coloured ; and the 

 back toe is placed so high as hardly to touch the ground. These 

 ducks very much resemble the Egyptian geese in colour and 

 appearance, allowing for their much smaller size. 



THE EIDER DUCK 



Is nearly double the size of the common wild duck; length 

 twenty-two inches. The bill and top of the head are black, taking 

 in the eyes, and continuing in a line on each side, where the 

 feathers project on the bill, almost as far as the nostrils ; below 

 the nape of the neck, on each side, the feathers are of a pale 

 green ; the rest of the head, neck, breast, back, scapulars, and 

 wing coverts, are white ; some of the coverts are long, and some- 

 what curved at the ends, falling over the quills, which are black ; 

 the upper parts of the breast are black ; tail black ; legs dull 

 green. In some, the base of the wings and middle of the back are 

 black. The female weighs about three pounds and a half; the 

 general colour of the plumage reddish brown, barred with black ; 

 the hind part of the neck marked with dusky streaks ; on the 

 wings are two bars of white; belly deep brown, indistinctly 

 marked with black ; tail dusky ; legs dark. They breed in the 

 north of Scotland, particularly on the western isles, on the Farn 

 Islands, and on the coast of Northumberland, in June and July. 

 The duck lays five or six eggs, of a pale, greenish olive colour. 



