1-17 



Common in America along the coast, from the river St. Lawrence to Florida, and has also been 

 occasionally met with in the Orkney ami Shetland Isles; it almost exclusively inhabits the sea. 

 The female of this species may he distinguished from that of O. nigra, which it somewhat resembles, 

 by the superior length of the bill, and by the grey marking on the cheeks behind the eye. that 

 colour in the above-mentioned bird being confined entirely to the throat. The following is Wilson's 

 description of the trachea and anatomy of the bird: "On dissection the gullet was found to be 

 gradually enlarged to the gizzard, which was altogether filled with broken shell-fish. There is a 

 similar hard expansion at the commencement of the Mind pipe, and another much larger about 

 three quarters of an inch above, where it separates into the two lobes of the lungs ; this last was 

 larger than a Spanish hazel nut, flat on one side and convex on the other; the protuberance mi 

 each side of the bill communicated with the nostrils, and was hollow." This description agrees with 

 that of the rest of the genus in general character. 



MELAMTTA FUSCA. 



Mel. Ater, speculo et macula lunata suboculari albis. 



VELVET DUCK. 



Black duck, with the speculum and a lunate mark under the eye white. 



in-. ™- 



Length 20 Tarsi lj 



Bill 1| Middle toe 1^ 



Male: entirely deep velvet black, with a lunate spot and a mark under the eye white; bill 

 and legs orange, the former with a tubercle at the base ; a space before it and the margins black ; 



webs black. 



Fern.: has the plumage above sooty black, below dirty grey; the tubercle at the base of the 



bill smaller than in the male. 



Young similar to the female. 



MelanUta fusca Bote in Br, km. Hand, der Wat. oiler, Vo. 



Deut. 905. 



Anas fusca Linn. Syst. I. 196 



<: in,l. Syst. i "•"; 

 Lath l,ii>. <>>„ 2. 848. 



Oidi a '•'''■'"■ ltr '"- ■'"■ "'' 



Steph. Sh. Zoot. 12.2)6. 



Fehet Duek '<""• Arct - Zo ° l 2 - - ; '"' r ' '""' 



Grand ou double maereuse ""/ <J,S - ''■ ' '"' 



Trachea Linn. Irons, vol. 4, tab i 



and vol. 16, tab. 2\,fq. 2 



