344 
NEW-YORK FAUNA -BIRDS. 
THE BLACK DUCK. 
Anas obscura. 
PLATE CVIII. FIG. 241. 
(STATE COLLECTION.) 
Anas obscura, Gmelzn. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 564. Wilson, Ara. Orn. Vol. 8, p. 141, pi. 72, fig. 5. 
Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 384. Audubon, B. of A. Vol. 6, p. 244, pi. 386 
(male and female). Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 392. Peabody, Birds of Mass. p. 388. 
Giraud, Birds of Long Island, p. 301. 
Characteristics. Mirror violet-blue, with greenish reflections, bordered with black : under 
wing-coverts and long axillaries pure white. Male, blackish brown, 
margined on the edges of the feathers with paler. Female and young, 
darker. Length, 23'0. 
Description. Bill about the length of the head, flattened, and rounded at the tip. Nostrils 
sub-basal, oblong-oval, and placed near the ridge. Hind toe very small. Tail short, rounded, 
of eighteen pointed feathers. 
Color. Male: Upper part of the head deep dusky brown, with light streaks of drab. 
Cheeks, and streaks over the eye, dull cream-color. Neck dull yellowish white ; each fea¬ 
ther with a central line of blackish brown. Mirror greenish blue, with purple reflections, 
bordered with black: some of the secondaries tipped with whitish. Bill yellowish green : 
feet reddish orange. Beneath brownish black. Under surface of the wing and the axillaries 
white. Female, smaller and browner; the mirror without the posterior white margined line. 
Length, 22'0-24'0. 
The Black Duck, as it is universally called except in the books, is very abundant in this 
State, not only in the interior, but on the seacoast. It breeds from Texas to Labrador, a 
range quite remarkable: the eggs are from 8-10, of a dull white color. They appear in 
this State in the spring, and remain during the summer; many, of course, proceeding far¬ 
ther north. In October, they again appear on the seacoast in large flocks, and then proceed 
southwardly as far as Texas. They were seen by Mr. Townsend on the northwest coast. 
Few ducks are more highly prized than these; and from the experiments which have already 
been made, it appears that they might be readily domesticated. 
