70 HISTORY OF THE 



dark brown, each feather having one or two irregular dirty-white bars, and 

 some being irregularly vermiculated with that color; rump washed with gray; 

 tail similar in color to that of the bird last described (i. e., adult male, in winter), 

 but the two central feathers are but slightly elongated; wings also as in the 

 last-described stage of plumage, but the elongated secondaries and scapulars are 

 shorter and blunter and in color dark gray, black along the center, some of the 

 latter being marked like the back; flanks grayish brown, every feather having 

 broad yellowish-white bars; under tail coverts as in the female. Adult fe- 

 male: Above plumbeous dusky, variegated transversely with yellowish white or 

 pale ochraceous; these markings sometimes irregularly bar-like, but often of 

 U-shaped form, one on the edge and one in the middle portion of each feather. 

 Wing much as in the male, but metallic color of the speculum duller, the ochra- 

 ceous bar anterior to it paler, and the white terminal bar tinged with buff; wing 

 coverts narrowly tipped with whitish. Upper tail coverts broadly edged with 

 whitish, and more or less marked with irregular (usually V-shaped) lines of the 

 same. Tail feathers dusky, edged with whitish, and with more or less distinct 

 indications of distant bars of the same. Head and neck dingy whitish, tinged 

 with brown on the superior surface, which is heavily streaked with blackish; 

 the other portions more finely and thinly streaked, the throat being nearly im- 

 maculate. Kest of the lower parts dingy white, the feathers more grayish 

 beneath the surface; crissum and flanks streaked with dusky, but abdomen, etc., 

 usually immaculate. . Young male: Similar to the female, but markings on up- 

 per part more bar-like, and lower parts sometimes nearly wholly streaked. 

 Young female: Speculum dilute raw umber, marbled toward base of feathers 

 with dusky. All the feathers of the upper parts conspicuously and broadly 

 bordered with buffy white; lower parts elsewhere densely streaked with dusky. 

 Downy young: Above, grayish raw umber, with a white stripe along each side 

 of the back, a white space on the wing and a white superciliary stripe. Be- 

 neath, grayish white, with a faint yellowish tinge; an umber-brown stripe be- 

 hind the eye, and an indistinct space of the same over the ears." 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 28.00 30.00 11.00 8.75 1.65 2.00 



Female... 22.00 33.00 9.75 4.50 1.60 1.90 



This widely-distributed fresh-water Duck is one of the first 

 arrivals. It haunts the wet prairies, muddy flats and the edges 

 of reedy, grassy waters, feeding largely upon bulbous roots, 

 tender shoots, insects and their larvae, worms, snails, etc., and 

 on their return in the fall, upon the various seeds of water 

 plants and grain. I have frequently taken acorns from their 

 crops. 



The birds seldom dive, and I never saw one do so while feed- 

 ing, but in searching for their food in the water immerse not only 

 the head but a large share of the body, and it is an odd sight to 



