FLORIDA DUSKY DUCK 
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ponds in the open pine woods, but the so-called “piney woods” are not their usual 
habitat. In his many journeys throughout the Florida Keys in both summer and 
winter Dr. Barbour never saw a single specimen. On the west coast of Florida a 
correspondent quoted by Baird, Brewer and Ridgway (1884) found them in August, 
September and the first part of October, in parties of from five to twenty, leaving the 
fresh ponds and flying across the bay to the sandbars on the inner side of the Keys, 
where they spent the night on the pools or coves near the mangroves, returning at 
sunrise next morning. At that time the birds shot were all males, but in January, 
February and March, mated pairs spent the night in the same manner. I myself 
noticed nothing characteristic in the winter habits of the Southern Black Duck as 
seen in Vermilion Bay, Louisiana, in January. They were certainly a common species, 
easily distinguishable from northern Black Ducks by their buffy heads and lighter 
under parts, and they outnumbered the northern migrants by about twenty to one. 
Waeiness. The Southern Black Duck is a shy bird but I gather that it is not 
quite so wary as the true Black Duck. Personally I could not see that these birds 
were much tamer than northern ducks, at any rate during the shooting season in 
Louisiana. In the early spring in the Everglades I have seen the male of a mated 
pair return constantly to the very spot where his mate was shot. 
Daily Movements. Their daily movements do not differ from those of Mal- 
lards. They are more active in the evening, and might be termed crepuscular. 
Gait, Swimming, Flight. There is nothing in the gait or swimming habits of 
this species to distinguish it from the Mallard or the Black Duck, though it might 
be said that on the wing it has a somewhat more slender outline, and is noticeably 
smaller. They are probably never found in large flocks and are seen more or less in 
pairs throughout the whole year. Dr. Thomas Barbour tells me that he once saw a 
flock of forty, but companies of more than ten or fifteen he regards as unusual. 
Association with other Species. Within the range of this species in Florida 
there are not many northern migratory ducks except Lesser Scaups, Mallards, Teals 
and Carolina Ducks. Southern Black Ducks are said to associate but rarely with any 
of these. In the Vermilion Bay region of Louisiana, where the marshes are populated 
by enormous numbers of Mallards, Pintails, Teals and Shovellers, I usually saw these 
ducks flying in little parties by themselves. In that region some of them pair and 
nest very early in the spring or even in late winter, so that many of them probably 
withdraw from the large marshes long before most of the northern migrants have left. 
Voice. The voice is very similar to that of the Mallard or the Black Duck, if 
