118 



TUFTED DUCK. 



zigzag lines of dusky; tail short, rounded, and of a dull brownish 

 black; legs and feet greenish ash, webs black, irides rich orange; 

 stomach filled with gravel and some vegetable food. 



In young birds the head and upper part of the neck are purplish 

 brown ; in some the chestnut ring on the fore part of the middle of the 

 neck is obscure, in others very rich and glossy, and in one or two spe- 

 cimens which I have seen it is altogether wanting. The back is in some 

 instances destitute of the fine powdered particles of white ; while in 

 others these markings are large and thickly interspersed. 



The specimen from which the drawing was taken, was shot on the 

 Delaware on the 10th of March, and presented to me by. Dr. S. B. 

 Smith of this city. On dissection it proved to be a male, and was ex- 

 ceedingly fat and tender. Almost every specimen I have since met 

 with has been in nearly the same state ; so that I cannot avoid thinking 

 this species equal to most others for the table, and greatly superior to 

 many. 



Note. — It is remarkable that our author should not have observed 

 the difference between this species and the fuligula of Europe ; and 

 still more worthy of note that Mr. Temminck, whose powers of discrimi- 

 nation are unusually acute, should also have been misled by the opinions 

 of others, and concluded, with Wilson, that the Tufted Duck figured in 

 our plate was of the same species as the Tufted Duck of Europe. The 

 only apology which we can make for our author is, that he had never had 

 an opportunity of examining a specimen of the fuligula ; otherwise the 

 specific differences of the two would have been obvious at the first 

 glance. The bill of the fuligula has not those white bands or markings 

 which are so conspicuous in our bird, its neck is also destitute of the 

 chestnut collar ; the speculum of the former is pure white, that of the 

 latter is pale ash ; and, what is a still more striking characteristic, its 

 head is merely tufted, while the fuligula' s is ornamented with a pendent 

 crest, of two inches in length. 



The credit of having been the first to publicly announce our bird as a 

 new species belongs to Mr. Charles Bonaparte, who, in the publication 

 quoted at the head of this article, has given a comparative description 

 of the two birds, and named the subject of this article rufitorgues. 



The American Tufted Duck is said to be common on the Ohio, and 

 the Mississippi ; Messieurs Say and Peale procured it on the Missouri ; 

 Lewis and Clark ^hot it on the Columbia ;* and myself in East Florida. 

 It is, properly speaking, a fresh-water Duck, although it is sometimes 

 found on the coast. On the Delaware we observe it in the spring and 

 autumn; and, if the weather be moderate, we see it occasionally 



* Hist, of the Exped. vol. ii., p. 195, 8vo. 



