Brewer.] 264 [January 21, 



purple reflections, and purple-brown with brilliant green reflections, 

 and a demi-collar of pure white. 



This same form has since been obtained by Mr. Bell, near New 

 York, and by him described SisFuligula viola. The opinion has been 

 expressed, perhaps on insufficient ground, that this remarkable duck 

 is a cross between the Mallard, Anas boschas, and the Muscovy, Cai- 

 rina moscliata. Mr. George N. Lawrence, who includes this as a spe- 

 cies in his list of the Birds of New York, does not regard its being a 

 hybrids, as established by the evidence. He objects that this form is 

 always a wild bird, and cannot therefore well originate from the Mus- 

 covy, which is not found wild north of Mexico. In all that have been 

 seen, there is a remarkable uniformity of coloration somewhat resem- 

 bling the Mallard, but not in any respect like the Muscovy Duck. 

 The bill is the bill of an Anas, and not of a Cairina. Mr. Lawrence 

 is quite sure that a mongrel breed, between the domestic duck and 

 the common Muscovy would, in all instances, show unmistakable marks 

 of the latter parentage. He thinks, therefore, that the Muscovy must 

 be rejected from its parentage, and urges that no other presents itself 

 of which the product could be so large. A pair shot a few years since 

 late in November, at South Hempstead, Long Island, is in Mr. Law- 

 rence's possession. The male weighed six and one-fourth pounds, 

 and the female four and three-fourths. 



Two years since I purchased from Hon. Arthur W. Austin, of 

 West Roxbury, for the Mount Auburn Cemetery, three ducks, one 

 male and two females, of what is known among bird-fanciers as the 

 Cayuga Lake Duck. It is not a common bird, yet is by no means 

 unknown to bird-fanciers. This flock of three has been increased 

 to nine at Mount Auburn, and all of the additions are exactly like 

 their parents. They are very gentle and tame, but will not permit 

 any intercourse with them on the part of the other ducks, either Mus- 

 covy or Aylesbury. Unfortunately the drake died and the flock has 

 only a single young drake, and the past season nearly all the eggs 

 proved unproductive. 



The drake that died combined in a remarkable degree the charac- 

 teristic peculiarities of the male Mallard and the female Muscovy. 

 It has the bill, the glossy green, with purple reflections, on the head 

 and shoulders, of the male Mallard, with the curling tail feathers found 

 in no other duck — unless the maxima be admitted to be a good spe- 

 cies, — than the Mallard, and the black body and large size of the 

 Muscovy. It wants the white wings of the wild Muscovy, and has a 



