326 NEW-YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



THE PIED DUCK. 



FtlLIGULA LABRADORA. 

 PLATE CXVI. FIG. 258. 



(STATE COLLECTION. Cabinet of the Lyceum.) 



Anas labradora, Gm. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 559. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 8, p. 91, pi. 69, fig. 6 (male). 

 Fuligula id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 391. Aodobon, B. of Am. Vol. 6, p. 329, pi. 400 (male 

 and female). Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 428. Camptorhynchut, Bonaparte, Comp. List, 

 F. grisea. Leib, Ac. So. Vol. 8, p. 170 (young). 



Characteristics. Mirror white and broad. Bill membranous at tip ; the cere-like base and 

 posterior margins orange. Male : head, neck, breast, scapulars, wing- 

 coverts and secondaries white ; crown, collar, and all the remaining 

 parts black. Female, slate grey ; sides of the forehead white. Length, 

 19-0. 



Description. Bill broad, robust, rather wider than broad at the base, 1 • 6 in length, and 

 not as long as the head : edges of the upper mandible soft, and turned over ; the tip finely 

 denticulate : lamellar teeth of the lower mandible largest. A distinct furrow surrounds the 

 nostrils, and terminates in a point in the centre of the upper mandible. Tarsus 1 ' 5 long ; 

 nails acute and recurved. Tail pointed, of sixteen acuminated feathers. Sides of the face 

 and auriculars with yellowish bristly feathers. 



Color. Male : Base of the bill pale orange ; the remainder black. Irides hazel. Feet 

 light bluish, with darker webs. An elongated black stripe on the crown and hind head. 

 Rump and upper tail-coverts black, finely sprinkled with grey. Beneath brown, passing into 

 black with age. On the lower part of the neck is a black ring, dilated behind, and uniting 

 below with the black of the back : the black of the lower parts rises high up on the breast. 

 Upper wing-coverts and secondaries white : quills brownish black. Tail-feathers, with the 

 shafts, brownish black. Female: Head, chin and neck ashy grey ; above slate blue : secon- 

 daries only white. Young, a crescent-like band of cream-color beneath and behind the eye ; 

 plumage grey, inclining to fuscous. 



Length, 18-0 - 20 '0. 



This Duck, well known on this coast under the name of Skurik-head, and Sand-shoal Duck 

 on the coast of New-Jersey, is not, however, very abundant. It presents characters which 

 unquestionably form the type of a new group, and which has been furnished with an appro- 

 priate name by the Prince of Canino. It may possibly breed in high northern latitudes on 

 the western shores of America, but this has not yet been confirmed. On the Atlantic coast, it 

 has been noticed from Labrador to the Chesapeake bay. Its history incomplete, but as far 

 as known, it is peculiar to America. 



