ANATIN2E — THE DUCKS — ANAS. 
499 
At the north its nest is always found among trees, and within two or three rods 
of the water — never in moist places among marshes unprotected by trees, nor at 
any considerable distance from water. The nest is large, the base very unartificial, 
consisting usually of a simple depression among the leaves, but warmly lined with 
down and feathers. In Northern Illinois it was frequently found nesting on the 
prairie at the edges of sloughs. 
At the north the old males moult while the females are incubating, the females 
moulting some two weeks later, after the young are hatched. The males remain 
near the nest some time after the females begin to incubate ; but before the young- 
leave the nest they collect in small parties of three or four, and go off by themselves. 
He rarely observed them accompanying the mother and her young. The young broods 
seek the protection of the reeds and grass, and are rarely seen, like the Sea Ducks, 
on open rivers or lakes. In summer, the young, before they can fly, and while the 
old birds are moulting, are very fat, and are killed in great numbers by the Indians. 
The hunter stands erect in his canoe, paddling silently along the lakes they frequent. 
Upon his approach they seek the grassy edges, where they cannot so readily dive, 
and the movement of the grass betraying their course, they are easily killed with 
arrows, or even with the paddle. At Fort Yukon he saw an Indian kill thirty young 
Ducks in two or three hours. 
In the United States this Duck ranks among the first as an article of food, and 
when fattened on wild rice, in autumn, is superior even to the Canvas-back fed on 
vallisneria ; but in the far north it loses its fine flavor. In the spring it is lean and 
tough ; and in summer, until after it leaves for the south, its flavor is spoiled by the 
stagnant marshy water in which it feeds. 
The northern Indians acknowledge this species as the type of all Ducks, simply 
calling it, in their various languages, “Big Duck.” The Canadians and French half- 
breeds call it the “ Canard frangais ; ” while the English call it the “Stock Duck.” 
Mr. Dali states that its Indian name at Nulato is Nintalci ; it is one of the first 
of the Ducks to arrive in spring, it generally appearing, about the 1st of May, in com- 
pany with Iiucephala albeola. It is common both on the sea-coast and in the interior. 
He found its eggs, eight in number, in a rotten stump about six inches above the 
level of the ground, laid directly on the wood, and covered with dead leaves and a 
few feathers. 
The eggs of the Mallard are usually grayish white, with a more or less decided 
tinge of green ; in some the green is quite prominent. Three eggs from Dubuque, 
la. (Smithsonian Institution, No. 9834), measure respectively, 2.35 by 1.70 inches ; 
2.20 by 1.70; 2.40 by 1.70; two from the Yukon (Smithsonian Institution, No. 6570) 
measure 2.45 by 1.75, and 2.55 by 1.80. The least length is 2.10 inches, and the 
smallest breadth 1.50. 
Anas obscura. 
THE BLACK MALLARD; DUSKY DUCK. 
Anas obscura, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 541. — Wils. Am. Orn. VIII. 1814, 141 ; pi. 72, f. 5. — • 
Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 392. — Aud. Orn. Biog. IV. 1838, 15, pi. 302 ; Synop. 1839, 276 ; B. 
Am. VI. 1843, 244, pi. 386. — Bated, B. N. Am. 1858, 775 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 577.— 
Codes, Key, 1872, 285 ; Check List, 1873, no. 489 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 708 ; B. N. W. 1874, 560. 
— Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 602. 
Hab. Eastern North America, west to Utah and Texas, north to Labrador. Cuba 1 
Sp. Char. Adult : Prevailing color brownish black or dusky, the feathers edged, more or less 
distinctly, with pale grayish fulvous. Head and neck about ecpially streaked with grayish white 
