192 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



brown, with their shafts brown ; secondaries, darker ; 

 the speculum is green, blue-violet, or amethyst-purple, 

 according to the light in which it is viewed, bounded 

 by velvet black; the feathers also tipped with a narrow 

 line of white. The whole under surface of the wing, 

 and the axillaries white. Length to end of tail twenty- 

 four and a half inches ; extent of wings thirty-eight and 

 a half inches. Weight, 3 pounds. 



Adult Female. The female, which is somewhat 

 smaller, resembles the male in color, but is more brown 

 and has the speculum of the same tints, but without 

 the white terminal line. Length to end of tail 22 

 inches ; extent of wings 34 1-4. 



The dusky duck, or as they are called in the West, 

 " black mallard," is very rarely killed here. It is es- 

 sentially an eastern duck. Occasionally it strays away 

 seeking pastures new, and the Western hunter is pleas- 

 antly surprised as well as gratified, when by chance he 

 bags a few of these birds. They are about the size, 

 perhaps a trifle larger, than our mallard, but in taste 

 and habits appear identical. There are places in the 

 West where they are fairly, one might say, quite plen- 

 tiful ; but this is the exception, and not the rule. 



