THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 507 



general gray tint; wing coverts bluish-gray, finely sprinkled with whitish; the 

 speculum, consisting of the ends of the secondaries, hoary graj-ish-blue, lightest 

 externally, and the innermost narrowly edged externally with black ; basal portion 

 of inner primaries somewhat similar to the speculum ; tail of fourteen feathers ; iris 

 orange-yellow. 



This species, with a strong resemblance to the Canvas -back, is readily dis- 

 tinguished by the shorter, broader bill, absence of brown on the head, and a greater 

 predominance of black in the waved lines ; this being equal in amount to the white, 

 instead of much less. 



Female with the head, neck, and forepart of body, brownish; the region round 

 the base of the bill whitish. 



Length of male, twenty and fifty one-hundredths inches ; wing, nine and fifty 

 orie-hundredths; tarsus, one and sixty one-hundredths; commissure, two and thirty 

 one-hundredths inches. 



Hob. Whole of North America. 



This handsome bird is pretty abundant on our shores, 

 where it usually prefers the small bays and estuaries of 

 creeks : it is also found in many of our large tracts of fresh 

 water, where it feeds on the tender leaves and roots of the 

 various aquatic plants, and small fish, and larvae of aquatic 

 insects. I found several specimens of both sexes in the Um- 

 bagog Lakes in June ; and I think it not impossible, that, if 

 it does not breed there, it will be found to breed in some of 

 the lake regions of northern New England. For it is ob- 

 served, in various localities, as late as the first week in June ; 

 and it can be hardly possible that all the birds thus observed 

 are barren. 



The habits of this species so much resemble those of the 

 succeeding species, that the same remarks will apply to 

 both. 



Of its breeding habits, nest, and eggs, I am ignorant. 



AYTHYA VALLISNEEIA. Bvnaparte. 

 The Canvas-back Duck. 



Anas vallisneria, Wilson. Am. Orn., VIII. (1814) 103. 

 Fuligula valUsneria, Nuttall. Man., II. 430. 

 Aythya vallisneria, Bonaparte. List ( 1838). 



Fuligula vallisneriana, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 1. Ib., Birds Am., 

 VI. (1843) 299. 



