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BREWER'S DUCK. 



-Jj\.nas Breweri, Aud. 

 PLATE CCCLXXXVIL— Male. 



The beautiful Duck from which I made the drawing copied on the plate 

 before you, was shot on Lake Barataria, in Louisiana, in February 1822. 

 It was in company with seven or eight Canvass-back Ducks. No other 

 individuals of the species were in sight at the time, and all my efforts to 

 procure another have been ineffectual. 



The individual figured was a male; but I have some doubts whether it had 

 acquired the full beauty of its mature plumage, and I considered it at the 

 time as a bird of the preceding season. 



In form and proportions this bird is very nearly allied to the Mallard, 

 from which it differs in having the bill considerably narrower, in wanting 

 the recurved feathers of the tail, in having the feet dull yellow in place of 

 orange-red, the speculum more green and duller, without the white bands of 

 that bird, and in the large patch of light red on the side of the head. It may 

 possibly be an accidental variety, or a hybrid between that bird and some 

 other species, perhaps the Gadwall, to which also it bears a great resem- 

 blance. 



Bill nearly as long as the head, higher than broad at the base, depressed 

 and widened towards the end, rounded at the tip, the lamellae short and 

 numerous, the unguis obovate, curved, the nasal groove elliptical, the nostrils 

 oblong. 



Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed; neck rather long and slender; 

 body full, depressed. Feet short, stout, placed behind the centre of the 

 body; legs bare a little above the joint; tarsus short, a little compressed, 

 anteriorly with small scutella, laterally and behind with reticulated angular 

 scales. Hind toe very small, with a narrow free membrane; third toe 

 longest, fourth a little shorter; claws small, arched, compressed, acute. 



Plumage dense, soft, and elastic; of the hind head and neck short and 

 blended; of the other parts in general broad and rounded. Wings of mode- 

 rate length, acute; tail short, graduated. 



Bill dull yellow, slightly tinged with green, dusky along the ridge. Iris 

 brown. Feet dull yellow, claws dusky, webs dull grey. Head and upper 



