92 



PIED DUCK 



wing coverts, and secondaries ; the primaries, lower part of the 

 breast, whole belly, and vent are black ; tail pointed, and of a 

 blackish hoary color ; the fore part of the legs and ridges of the 

 toes pale whitish ash; hind part the same bespattered with black- 

 ish, webs black ; the edges of both mandibles are largely pecti- 

 nated. In young birds, the whole of the white plumage is gene- 

 rally strongly tinged with a yellowish cream color ; in old males 

 these parts are pure white, with the exception sometimes of the 

 bristly pointed plumage of the cheeks, which retains its cream tint 

 the longest, and, with the skinny part of the bill, form two strong 

 peculiarities of this species. 



The female measures nineteen inches in length, and twenty 

 seven in extent ; bill exactly as in the male ; sides of the front 

 white ; head, chin, and neck ashy grey ; upper parts of the back 

 and wings brownish slate ; secondaries only, white ; tertials hoary ; 

 the white secondaries form a spot on the wing, bounded by the 

 black primaries, and four hoary tertials edged with black ; whole 

 lower parts a dull ash skirted with brownish white, or clay color; 

 legs and feet as in the male ; the bill in both is marked from the 

 nostrils backwards by a singular heart shaped outline. 



The windpipe of the male measures ten inches in length, and 

 has four enlargements, viz, one immediately below the mouth, and 

 another at the interval of an inch ; it then bends largely down to 

 the breast bone, to which it adheres by two strong muscles, and 

 has at that place a third expansion. It then becomes flattened, 

 and before it separates into the lungs, has a fourth enlargement 

 much greater than any of the former, which is bony, and round, 

 puffing out from the left side. The intestines measured six feet ; 

 the stomach contained small clams, and some glutinous matter ; 

 the liver was remarkably large. 



