98 



VELVET DUCK, 



protuberance on each side of the bill communicated with the nostril, 

 and was hollow. All these were probably intended to contain supplies 

 of air for the bird's support while under water ; the last may also pro- 

 tect the head from the sharp edges of the shells. 



The female is altogether of a sooty brown, lightest about the neck ; 

 the prominences on the bill are scarcely observable and its color 

 dusky. 



This species was also found by Captain Cooke at Nootka Sound, on 

 the north-west coast of America. 



Species XV. ANAS FUSCA. 



VELVET DUCK. 



[Plate LXXII. Fig. 3, Male.] 



Le grande Macreuse, Briss. ti., p. 423, 29.— Bupf. ix., p. 242.— PI. Enl. 956.— 

 Ard. Zool. No. 482.— Bewick, it., p. 286.— Lath. Syn. in., p. 482.* 



This and the following are frequently confounded together as one 

 and the same species by our gunners on the sea coast. The former, 

 however, differs in being of greater size ; in having a broad band of 

 white across the wing ; a spot of the same under the eye, and in the 

 structure of its bill. The habits of both are very much alike ; they 

 visit us only during the wintSV ; feed entirely on shell fish, which they 

 procure by diving ; and return to the northern regions early in spring to 

 breed. They often associate with ' the Scoters, and are taken fre- 

 quently in the same nets with them. Owing to the rank fishy flavor 

 of its flesh, it is seldom sought after by our sportsmen or gunners, and 

 is very little esteemed. 



The Velvet Duck measures twenty-three inches in length, and two 

 feet nine inches in extent, and weighs about three pounds ; the bill is 

 broad, a little elevated at the base, where it is black, the rest red, 

 except the lower mandible, which is of a pale yellowish white ; both are 

 edged with black, and deeply toothed ; irides pale cream ; under the 

 eye is a small spot of white ; general color of the plumage brownish 

 black, the secondaries excepted, which are white, forming a broad band 

 across the wing ; there are a few reflections of purple on the upper 

 plumage ; the legs are red on the outside, and deep yellow sprinkled 

 with blackish on the inner sides ; tail short and pointed. 



* Anas Fusca, Gmel. Syst. i., p. 507, No. 6. — Ind. Orn. p. 848, No. 44. — Canard 

 double Macreuse, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 858. 



