SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks 



Breeds : From the Northern States northward to Alaska. 

 Bange : Nearly all of North America, wintering from the Chesapeake 

 southward. 



The favourite Duck of dinner parties and suppers, where it 

 divides the honours with diamond-backed terrapin. The par- 

 ticular flavour of its flesh, when at certain seasons it feeds on 

 vaMsneria, or wild celery (which is not celery at all, but an 

 eel-grass) won its fame. But as this eel-grass is a local 

 plant, not growing all through the range of the Canvas- 

 back, and as when the celery is lacking it eats frogs, lizards, 

 tadpoles^fish, etc., a certificate of residence should be sold 

 with every pair to insure the inspiring flavour. 



The biography of this Duck belongs rather to the cook- 

 book than a bird list, and in fact even its most learned 

 biographers refer mainly to its eatable qualities, and Dr. 

 Coues even takes away its character from that standpoint, 

 saying, "There is little reason for squealing in barbaric 

 joy over this over-rated and generally underdone bird ; not 

 one person in ten thousand can tell it from any other duck 

 on the table, and only then under the celery circumstances." 



American Scaup Duck: Ay thy a marila nearctica. 



Broadrbill. 



Length : 20 inches. 



Male: Heavy, broad, bluish bill. No crest. Above, upper back 

 glossy black with washes of green and purple. Below white, with 

 black wavings near the vent. Lower part of back waved with 

 black and white ; speculum white. Bluish feet ; claws black. 



Female : Head and fore parts rusty brown, upper parts rusty black, 

 with some white wavings. Below white, and a conspicuous 

 white patch on forehead. 



Season: A migrant; common in March and April, October and Novem- 

 ber, sometimes wintering. 



Breeds : Inland, north from Manitoba. 



Bange : North America in general. 



An abundant Duck, visiting the bays in great flocks, being 

 especially abundant about the Chesapeake. As it does not 

 eat fish, and subsists to some extent upon seeds and tender 



263 



