500 
LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
(more ochraceous near the bill) and dusky ; pileum nearly uniform dusky, and a dusky stripe back 
from the eye. Speculum violet, changing to green in some lights, narrowly tipped with white, 
and with a broad subterminal bar of velvety black ; last row of coverts dusky brownish, broadly 
tipped with black. Sexes alike. “ Bill yellowish green, the unguis dusky ; iris dark brown ; feet 
orange-red, the webs dusky ” (Audubon). 
Downy young: 1 Above, olivaceous-brown, faintly relieved by six inconspicuous markings of 
light brownish buff, situated as follows : one on the posterior border of each arm- wing ; one (small, 
and sometimes nearly obsolete) on each side of the back, behind the wings, and one, more distinct, 
A. obscum. 
on each side the rump, near the base of the tail. Pileum and nape (longitudinally), brown, like 
the back ; rest of the head and neck, with lower parts, light dingy brownish buff, paler on the 
abdomen ; side of the head marked with a narrow dusky stripe running from the upper basal angle 
of the maxilla to the eye, thence back toward the occiput, but scarcely confluent with the brown on 
the latter ; an indistinct spot on the auricular region, with a still less distinct dusky mark extending 
back from this to the nape. 
Wing, 10.50-11.50 inches ; culmen, 2.00-2.35 ; tarsus, 1.70-1.80 ; middle toe, 1.90-2.10. 
A summer specimen from Moose Factory, Hudson’s Bay Territory No. 17971, (John McKenzie), 
differs from United States (fall, winter, and spring) examples in having the pale edges of the 
feathers nearly all worn off, so that the plumage appears to be nearly uniform black, while the 
lower parts are strongly tinged with rusty, this approaching a bright ferruginous tint on the breast. 
Some examples have a slight tinge of metallic green on the sides of the head, behind the eye. 
The Dusky Duck appears to be confined to the eastern portions of North America. 
It is found from the Atlantic coast to the western parts of the Mississippi Valley, 
occurring along the tributary streams to an extent not fully ascertained. It is abun- 
dant throughout the British Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, 
and individuals have been occasionally taken farther north. It is also more or less 
abundant during the winter months in all the Eastern and Southern States, including 
South Carolina, Florida, and Texas. It has been taken near Fort Anderson in June, 
where the species was reported as being tolerably numerous. This is the most 
northern point to which it has been traced. 
1 Described from No. 52392, Calais, Me. ; G. A. Boardman. 
