CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 345 



brought them from a dollar to a dollar and a half per pair, uni- 

 versal surprise and regret were naturally enough excited. 



The Canvas-back is two feet long, an,d three feet in extent, 

 and when in good order weighs three pounds; the bill is large, 

 rising high in the head, three inches in length, and one inch 

 and three -eighths thick at the base, of a glossy black; eye very 

 small, irides dark red; cheeks and fore part of the head black- 

 ish brown; rest of the head and greater part of the neck bright 

 glossy reddish chestnut, ending in a broad space of black that 

 covers the upper part of the breast, and spreads round to the 

 back; back, scapulars, and tertials white, faintly marked with 

 an infinite number of transverse waving lines or points as if 

 done with a pencil; whole lower parts of the breast, also the 

 belly, white, slightly pencilled in the same manner, scarcely 

 perceptible on the breast, pretty thick towards the vent; wing 

 coverts gray with numerous specks of blackish; primaries and 

 secondaries pale slate, two or three of the latter of which near- 

 est the body are finely edged with deep velvetty black, the for- 

 mer dusky at the tips; tail very short, pointed, consisting of 

 fourteen feathers of a hoary brown; vent and tail coverts black; 

 lining of the wing white; legs and feet very pale ash, the latter 

 three inches in width, a circumstance which partly accounts for 

 its great powers of swimming. 



The female is somewhat less than the male, and weighs two 

 pounds and three quarters; the crown is blackish brown, cheeks 

 and throat of a pale drab; neck dull brown; breast as far as the 

 black extends on the male, dull brown skirted in places with 

 pale drab; back dusky white crossed with fine waving lines; 

 belly of the same dull white, pencilled like the back; wings, 

 feet, and bill, as in the male; tail coverts dusky, vent white 

 waved with brown. 



The windpipe of the male has a large flattish concave laby- 

 rinth, the ridge of which is covered with a thin transparent 

 membrane; where the trachea enters this it is a very narrow, 

 but immediately above swells to three times that diameter. The 

 intestines are wide, and measure five feet in length. 



VOL. in. y y 



