1 62 The Water-fowl Family 



and by him presented to Audubon, are now in 

 the Smithsonian Institution. The most beauti- 

 ful collection of these birds in existence is in the 

 New York Museum, where one case contains five 

 finely mounted specimens, two of which are adult 

 males. They were collected by Professor D. G. 

 Elliot. 



The Labrador duck was a strong flyer and 

 diver, apparently able in every way to protect 

 itself against the depredations of enemies, yet it 

 has passed into extinction and no satisfactory 

 reasons can be given for its disappearance. The 

 flesh was coarse and fishy. Probably the breed- 

 ing area was limited, and natural causes effected its 

 destruction. 



steller's duck 



{Eniconetta stelleri) 



Adult male — Greater part of head and upper neck, glossy white; 

 lores and tuft of feathers on occiput, olive-green ; chin and 

 throat, black ; lower part of neck, middle of back and rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts, glossy black ; long scapulars, blue-black on 

 outer, and white on inner web ; other scapulars bend down 

 across the wing; wing-coverts, anterior scapulars, and sides of 

 back, white ; speculum, blue-black, with white bar ; under parts, 

 light chestnut, becoming darker on the abdomen ; a round, 

 black spot on each side of the breast in front of wing-coverts ; 

 anal region and under tail-coverts, black ; tail, brownish black ; 

 bill, slate, yellowish at tip; iris, dark brown; legs and feet, 

 brownish. 



Measurements — Length, 18 inches; wing, 8 inches; tarsus, 1.35 

 inches ; culmen, 1 .45 inches. 



Adult female — Head and neck, reddish brown, speckled with dusky ; 

 upper parts, dusky brown, feathers tipped with lighter ; wings 



