DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS OF NORTH AMEKICA. 



79 



Genus NOMONYX Ridgway. 



NOMONYX DOMINICUS {Linn). 

 Masked Duck. 



Special characters. Male; Front of head, and fiice, black; back of head, and neck, rioli, 

 rufous brown, shading into pale chestnut, or tawuj' brown on the under parts; l)asal portion 

 of wing coverts, white, forming a white patch on the wing; prinniries, brown; feathers 

 of the back, black, edjj;ed with rufous bi'own; tail, black, the feathers still' and pointed; axil- 

 lars, wliite ; upper mandible, light blue, in life, showing a narrow middle stripe of black ; feet, 

 gray. 



(Mik ) 



(Female.) 



Female . Top of the head, and a stripe through tlie eye, and a cheek stripe, black, or 

 brownish bl.ack; rest of the head, and upper throat, pale buff color, whitish on the chin; 

 breast, tawny, mottled with black; rest of under parts, washed with tawny brown, shading 

 into grayish on the .abdomen; back, dark brown; the feathers tipped with pale bi'own, or 

 tawny brown ; wings and tail, as in the male ; axillars, white. 



llaliitat: Tropical America in general, including \\'est Indies; north on the Gulf coast to 

 the Lower Bio Grande; accidental in Eastern North America ("Wisconsin. Lake Chaniplain, 

 Massachusetts). A. O. Y. 



The Masked Duck is a tropical species, accidental in Nortli America. It 

 is common in many parts of Soutli America and tlie AVest Indies. Several 

 specimens have been recorded as lieing taken in the United States, from New 

 York, Wisconsin, and near Maiden, Mass., the latter specimen I examined in 

 the flesh, as it was sent to me for identification (Auk, vi., 1889, p. SOG). 



