WILD FOWL. 89 



very short, compressed, with an anterior series of small scutella, 

 an outer shor^ series going to the fourth toe, the rest reticulated. 

 Hind toe very small, with a free interior web ; anterior toes 

 very slender, the middle toe double the length of the tarsus, the 

 outer almost as long, the inner considerably shorter, and having 

 a broad lobed margin, the webs reticulated. Claws rather 

 small, slender, compressed, slightly arched, acute. 



" Plumage dense, blended, on the upper parts very soft ; on 

 the fore part of the head stiffish ; on the lower parts with a silky 

 gloss, and stiff, having the extremities broad, and the barbs 

 sharp and pointed ; primaries tapering, the first longest, ob- 

 liquely rounded. Tail shoit, much graduated, of eighteen stiff, 

 narrow feathers, of which the shaft is very strong, and runs out 

 in a flattened concave point. 



" Bill and edges of eyelids grayish-blue. Iris hazel. Feet 

 dull grayish-blue, webs inclining to dusky ; claws grayish- 

 brown. Upper part of the head and nape, deep bluish-black, 

 that color running to a point about the middle of the neck ; a 

 large white patch on each side of the head, from the bill to be- 

 hind the ear, narrowed on the throat. Neck all rounds and all 

 the upper parts, as well as the sides of the rump, rich glossy 

 brownish-red, or chestnut ; the lower parts grayish-white, tinged 

 with brown, and marked with transverse inteiTupted bars of 

 dusky. Wing coverts, quills, and tail-feathers, blackish-brown. 



" Length to end of tail, ll ; inches ; to end of wings, 12^ ; to 

 end of claws, 15 ; extent of wings, 2I7 ; tail, 3^ ; bill, along 

 the ridge, 1'. Weight, If lbs." — Audubon's Birds of America. 



Mr. Audubon farther speaks of this beautiful and bhowy 

 Duck in the following terms, which I quote as presenting so re- 

 markable a discrepancy with Wilson's statement, at a more 

 remote period, that we must suppose that this species has be- 

 come, as the case with many other birds of this and other ge- 

 nera, more frequent in this region, of late. Mr. Giraud, in his 

 " Birds of Long Island," speaks of it as not very rare, though 

 not a common species, and says that it is known by the gunners 

 as the " Salt Water Teal." 



