duck. 267 



feather dusky or black ; head and neck palest; throat, belly, four 

 first quills, and the adjoining coverts, brownish ; the six next tipped 

 with white, hence appears a line of white on the wing ; tail as the 

 quills. Neither the males nor females obtain the compressed 

 gibbosity of the bill, nor colours of the plumage, till advanced in 

 age. A bird, which appeared to us as a young male, was in the 

 Leverian Museum ; the bill of a dusky red, the nail black ; the 

 elevation at the base not very far advanced; head and neck brownish 

 ash-colour ; top of the head streaked with a few white lines at the 

 back part ; body and wings dull black ; a patch of white on the 

 wing coverts, and another in the middle of the back ; legs reddish 

 brown. 



Inhabits Greenland, where it is as common as the Eider, with 

 much the same manners, and the down applicable to the same 

 purposes ; is found every where in the Islands, and breeds in the 

 more northern of them, removing to the south in winter; not 

 uncommon in Norway, and on the Arctic Shores of Siberia, ex- 

 tending to Kamtschatka ; and has also been killed in the Orknies. 

 The flesh is accounted excellent, and the crude, gibbous part of the 

 bill a great delicacy. The skins are sewed together, and make 

 warm garments. 



The natives kill them with darts, and use the following method : 

 a number of them in canoes, on meeting with a flock while swim- 

 ming, suddenly shout very loud, making as much noise as possible, 

 and the birds being too much frightened to fly away, dive under the 

 water, but as the place at which they are again to rise is betrayed by 

 the bubbling of the water above, the hunters follow as close as may 

 be, and after acting this three or four times, the birds become so 

 fatigued as to be easily killed.* 



This beautiful species is found at Hudson's Bay ; is in plenty at 

 Churchill River, in 59 degrees of north latitude, and remains there 

 as long as the water is unfrozen; is scarce at York Fort. They build 



* Faun, groenl. 

 M m 2 



