duck. 329 



llie rest of the head and whole of the neck prettily speckled with 

 black and white; behind the eye a large black spot, glossed with 

 green in different lights, which in some specimens passes to the 

 back of the neck ; back and scapulars pale rust, inclining to cin- 

 namon, waved with transverse black lines ; second quills with black 

 shafts, outwardly fringed with white; greater quills brown; in the 

 middle of the wing coverts a large bed of white ; quills and tail 

 deep brown, the latter cuneiform ; upper tail coverts black and white 

 longitudinally, all beneath white; vent black ; legs dusky. Called 

 by Mr. Abbot, Bald-faced Duck. 



The female has the head and neck spotted thickly with small 

 dusky marks; round the breast and back pale ash, with larger 

 rufous brown markings; lesser wing coverts plain pale ash; the 

 middle ones margined with white ; the larger nearly white, forming 

 a bed on that part of the wing; quills and tail brown; under parts 

 from the breast white, with a ferruginous tinge over the thighs, and 

 the vent mixed dusky and white; bill and legs as in the male. 



Inhabits North America, from Carolina to Hudson's Bay, but 

 is no where common. Called at New York the Pheasant Duck. 

 I find by Mr. Abbot, who furnished the above description, that it 

 frequents the ponds about Georgia in the winter, but not common ; 

 is more plentiful at St. Domingo and Cayenne, where it is called 

 Vingeon, or Gingeon. At Martinico great flocks of them often take 

 flight from one plantation to another, where they make much havock, 

 particularly during the rainy season; said to perch on trees, to feed 

 in company, and have a sentinel on the watch, like some other birds. 

 This species is seldom seen during the day, lying hid in places shaded 

 from the sun, but coming forth in the dusk to feed ; during which 

 they make a particular kind of noise, so as to guide the sportsman 

 in his researches after them, thereby betraying themselves ; when 

 otherwise, under cover of the evening, their silence would protect 

 them ; at other times their note is a kind of soft whistle, which is 

 often imitated, in order to decoy them within reach of gun. The 



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