174 AQUATIC FOWL. 



white, curving up iu the form of a crescent nearly to the pos- 

 terior part of the eye ; the white collar is bounded below with 

 black ; breast, dark violet brown, marked on the fore part with 

 minute triangular spots of white, increasing in size until they 

 spread into the white of the belly ; each side x>f the breast is 

 bounded by a large crescent of white, and that again by a 

 broader one of deep black ; sides under the wings thickly and 

 beautifully marked with fine, undulating, parallel lines of black, 

 on a ground of yellowish drab ; the flanks are ornamented with 

 broad, alternate, semicircular bands of black and white ; sides of 

 the vent, rich light violet ; tail coverts long, of a hair-like 

 texture at the sides, over which they descend, and of a deep 

 black, glossed with green ; back, dusky bronze, reflecting grean ; 

 scapulars, black ; tail, tapering, dark glossy green above, below 

 dusky ; primaries, dusky, silvery hoary without, tipt with violet 

 blue ; secondaries, greenish blue, tipt with white ; wing coverts, 

 violet blue, tipt with black ; vent, dusky ; legs and feet yellowish 

 red ; claws, strong and hooked. 



"The above is as accurate a description as I can give of a 

 very perfect specimen now before me. 



" The female has the head slightly crested ; crown, dark purple ; 

 behind the eye, a bar of white ; chin and throat, for two inches, 

 also white; head and neck, dark drab; breast, dusky brown, 

 marked with large triangular spots of white ; back, dark, 

 glossy, bronze brown, with some gold and greenish reflections. 

 Speculum of the wings nearly the same as in the male, but the 

 fine pencilling of the sides, and the long hair-like tail coverts, 

 are wanting; the tail is also shorter." 



THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK, 



Being so frequently spoken of in Europe, as superior in flavour to 

 the whole tribe of ducks, will, I hope, plead a sufficient apology 

 for introducing a bird which I cannot find any record of being 

 shot in Great Britain. Wilson so highly lauds it, I extract its 

 description from his able "American Ornithology": 



" This celebrated American species, as far as can be judged 

 from the best figures and descriptions of foreign birds, is alto- 

 gether unknown in Europe. It approaches nearest to the pochard 

 of England (Anas ferina), but differs from that bird in being 

 superior in size and weight, in the greater magnitude of its bill, 

 and the general whiteness of its plumage. A short comparison 

 of the two will elucidate this point : The canvas-back measures 



