SPECIES 26. ANAS HISTRIONICS. 



HARLEQUIN DUCK. 

 [Plate LXXIL Fig. 4, Male.'] 



Z> Canard <i Collier de TerreNeuve, BRISS. vi,p. 362. 14. BUFF. 

 ix, p. 250. Fl. EnL 798. Arct* Zool. JVo. 490. LATH. Syn. 

 in, p. 484.* 



THIS species is very rare on the coasts of the middle and 

 southern states, though not unfrequently found off those of New 

 England, where it is known by the dignified title of the Lord, 

 probably from the elegant crescents and circles of white which 

 ornament its neck and breast. Though an inhabitant of both 

 continents, little else is known of its particular manners than 

 that it swims and dives well; flies swift, and to a great height; 

 and has a whistling note. It is said to frequent the small rivu- 

 lets inland from Hudson's Bay, where it breeds. The female 

 lays ten white eggs on the grass; the young are prettily speck- 

 led. It is found on the eastern continent as far south as lake 

 Baikal, and thence to Kamtschatka, particularly up the river 

 Ochotska; and was also met with at Aoonalashka and Iceland. t 

 At Hudson's Bay it is called the Painted Duck, at Newfound- 

 land and along the coast of New England, the Lord; it is an ac- 

 tive vigorous diver, and often seen in deep water, considerably 

 out at sea. 



The Harlequin Duck, so called from the singularity of its 

 markings, is seventeen inches in length, and twenty-eight in- 

 ches in extent; the bill is of a moderate length, of a lead colour 



*Jlnas Histrionica, GMEI. Syst. i, p. 534, JV*o. 35; Jl.minula, Jb. Vo. 36, fe- 

 male. Ind. Orn.p. 849, -Vo. 45. Gen. Syn. HI, p. 484, 485, female. Dusky and 

 Spotted Duck, EDWARDS,;?/. 99; Little Brown and White Duck.Id.pl. 157, fe- 

 male. La Sarcelle de la Baye de Hudson, BRISK, vr, p. 469, No. 41, female. TEMM. 

 JV7<m. d' Orn.p 818, 



f Latham. 



