1 88 The Water-fowl Family 



destruction. They come over the boats in ones 

 and twos and flocks, low down, an easy mark. 

 For a time the fusillade is furious, and many are 

 killed. The birds that escape proceed to fall into 

 the same trap over again, as soon as opportunity 

 offers. Other names for this bird are booby, 

 broadbill dipper, bumble-bee coot, salt-water teal, 

 spine-tail, bull-neck, steel-head. 



MASKED DUCK 

 (Nomonyx dominions) 



Adult male — Head, except nape and chin, black ; nape, throat, 

 neck, back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts, dark cinnamon ; 

 centre of feathers, black; lower back and rump, dark brown 

 spotted with black ; upper part of breast, dark cinnamon ; sides 

 darker with black centres to the feathers ; wings, blackish brown 

 with long, narrow, white speculum ; under tail-coverts, cinnamon 

 blotched with black ; tail, dark brown, shafts of feathers black ; 

 bill, slate ; median line on maxilla, nail and skin at base of chin, 

 black ; mandible, reddish white ; tip, black. 



Measurements — Length, 15 inches; wing, 5.75 inches; culmen, 1.30 

 inches; tarsus, 1 inch. 



Adult female — Top of head, stripe from base of bill through eye to 

 occiput and one from nape to occiput, black ; rest of head, buff, 

 becoming whitish on throat; neck, buff mottled with brown; 

 upper parts, black edged with buff; wings, dark brown; feathers, 

 tipped with yellowish white ; speculum, white ; tail, dark brown, 

 under parts ochraceous with blackish spots on breast, flanks, 

 and anal region ; bill, brown ; nail, black. 



Measurements— length, 13 inches; wing, 5 inches; culmen, 1.30 

 inches ; tarsus, 1 inch. 



Young male — Sides of head mottled with buff and under parts 

 whitish, otherwise resembles adult male. Still younger speci- 

 mens resemble female. 



Habitat — Breeds in the West Indies and tropical America, ranging 



