ANATIN.E — THE DT'CKS — AXAS. 



499 



e wings iM'o- 

 Liudulatious ; 

 11 liour. 



seeking its 

 inong water- 

 ev. Its nest 

 rarely liiu^d 

 tree ; in such 

 . The eggs, 

 and measure 



nnual moult, 

 taken on tlie 

 lie leaves the 

 The period 

 follow their 

 ^curing food, 

 ;o escape, she 

 le young are 

 ter with only 

 e rejoins the 



of 40° north 

 Dresser that 



y hybridizes 

 s species and 

 to fanciers as 

 male Mallard 

 Godwell, the 



the very full 



an. Being a 

 )ast, but pre- 

 iiid rivers as 

 !tls sparingly 

 States, but 

 (1 the Arctic 

 s northward 

 River, and 

 Lake, 

 of the Water 



I the greater 

 a little later. 



ircd. A few 



II the greater 

 It leaves its 



cs, about the 



i 



At the north its nest is always found among trees, and within two or three rods 

 of the water — never in moist i)laces among marshes unprotected l)y trees, nor at 

 any considerable distance from water. The nest is large, the base very unartiticial. 

 consisting usually uf a simple depression among the leaves, but warmly lined with 

 down and feathers. In Northern Illinois it was frequently found nesting on the 

 prairie at the edges of sloughs. 



At the nortli the old males moult while the females are incubating, the females 

 moulting some two weeks later, after the young are hatched. Tlui males remain 

 near the nest some time after the females begin to incubate ; but before the young 

 leave the nest they collect in small j)arties of tliree or four, and go off by themselves. 

 He rarely observed them aitcoinpanying the mother and her young. The young broods 

 seek the protection of the reeds and grass, and are rarely seen, like the Sea Ducks, 

 on open rivers or lakes. In summer, the young, before tiiey can Hy, ami while tlie 

 old birds are moulting, are very fat, and are killed in great numbers l)y tlie Indians. 

 The hunter stands erect in his canoe, paddling silently along the lakes they frequent. 

 Upon his approach they seek the grassy edges, where they cannot so readily dive, 

 and the movement of the grass betraying tlieir course, they are easily killed with 

 arrows, or even with the paddle. At Fort Yukon he saw lui Indian kill thirty young 

 Ducks in two or three hours. 



In the United States this Duck ranks among the first as an article of food, and 

 when fattened on wild rice, in autumn, is superior even to the Canvas-back fed on 

 ixtUi'sneria ; but in the far north it loses its fine flavor. In the spring it is lean and 

 tough ; and in summer, until after it leaves for the south, its flavor is siioiled by the 

 stagnant marshy water in which it feeds. 



The northern Indians acknowledge this species as the type of all Ducks, simply 

 railing it, in their various languages, "Hig Duck."' The Canadians and French half- 

 breeds call it tlu' '•' ('(inurdfnon'ais;" while the English call it the "Stock Duck." 



Mr. Dall states that its Indian name at Xulato is Xlntala ; it is one of the first 

 of the Ducks to arrive in spring, it generally aiipearing, about the 1st of May, in com- 

 pany with liucophala al/mo/a. It is cominoii b(jth on the sea-coast and in the interior. 

 Ho found its eggs, eight in number, in a rotten stump about six inches above the 

 level of the ground, laid directly on the wood, and covered with dead leaves and a 

 few feathers. 



The eggs of the Mallard are usually grayish white, with a more or less decided 

 tinge of green ; in some the green is cpiite prominent. Three eggs from Dubuque, 

 la. (Smithsonian Institution, No. 98.31), measure respectively, 2.-3") by 1.70 inches ; 

 2.20 by 1.70; 2.40 by 1.70; two from the Yukon (Smithsonian Institution. No. (5570) 

 measure 2.45 by 1.75, and 2.55 by 1.80. The least length is 2.10 inches, and the 

 smallest breadth 1.50. 



Anas obscura. 



THE BLACK MALLABD; OUSKT DUCK. 



Ams obscura, Gmei. .S. N. I. ii. 1788, 541.— ■\Vn.s. Am. Oin. VIII. 1814, 141; pi- 72. f. 5. — 

 NCTT. Miin. II. 1834, 392. — Aun. Oin. liiop;. IV. 1838, 1,5, pi. M'l ; .Syiiop. 1839, 270 ; B. 

 Am. VI. 1843, 244, pi. 386. — BAiitn, H. X. Am. 1858, 775; Cat. X. Am. I!. 1859, no. 577. — 

 CouES, Key, 1872, 28.". ; Clicck List, 1873, no. 489 ; 2d od. 1882, no. 708 ; B. X. W. 1874, 560. 

 — RiDOW. Nom. X. Am. li. 1881, no. (i02. 



Hau. Eiistem North America, west to Utah ami Texas, north to Lahrailor. Cuba i 

 .Sp. Char. Adult : Prevailing color lirownisli black or dusky, the feathers edged, more or less 

 distinctly, with pale grayish fulvous. Head and neck about efpially streaked with grayish white 



