graceful, its bill small and narrow as compared with that of other ducks, its feet delicate, and its wings long 
and pointed. “ The windpipe,” Mr. Yarrell informs us, “ is rather small in calibre, with a slight enlargement 
of the tube about two inches above the bony protuberance. The voice is loud ; and hence it obtained the 
name of strepera" Its food, like that of the Common Duck, the Pintail, and the Teal, is said to consist of 
grasses and water-plants ; its flesh is savoury and excellent. 
That with proper care and attention this species might become semidomesticated seems likely. I have 
mentioned above an instance of its breeding in the Gardens of the Zoological Society; and Dr. Bachman, in 
a note to Audubon, says: — “In the year 1812 I saw in Duchess County, State of New York, at the house of a 
miller, a fine flock of Ducks, to the number of at least thirty, which from their peculiar appearance struck 
me as different from any I had before seen among the varieties of the tame Duck. On inquiry, I was 
informed that, three years before, a pair of these Ducks had beeti captured in the mill-pond, whether in a trap 
or by being wounded, I cannot recollect. They were kept in the poultry-yard, and, it was said, were easily 
tamed. One joint of the wing was taken oflf to prevent their flying away. In the following spring they were 
suffered to go into the pond, and they returned daily to the house to he fed. They built a nest on the edge 
of the pond, and reared a large brood. The young were perfectly reconciled to domestication, and made 
no attempts, even at the migratory season, to fly away, although their wings were perfect. In the following 
season they produced large broods. The family of the miller used them occasionally as food, and considered 
them equal in flavour to the Common Duck, and more easily raised.” — Aud. Orn. Biogr., vol. v. p. 354. 
To say there is no external difference in the sexes would be to assert an untruth ; but, the male being 
much less adorned than the males of its congeners, the sexes are necessarily much more alike. The female 
is in fact very similarly clothed to the female of the common Wild Duck {Anas hoschas'), but may at all times 
he distinguished from her mate by her plainer clothing and by the greater delicacy of her structure. 
The male has the head and neck greyish hrown, spotted and ringed on the nape with dark brown ; the 
under part of the neck, hack, and breast lunulated with black ; scapularies and sides barred with zigzag- 
lines of white and brownish black; lesser wing-coverts chestnut-red; greater coverts, rump, and under 
tail-coverts black ; speculum pure white, bordered below with black, so as to form three broad hands on the 
wing of chestnut, black, and white; abdomen dull white; rump and tail-coverts glossed with green; bill 
blackish olive ; irides hazel ; legs, toes, and interdigital membranes orange-yellow, claws black. 
The female has the head mottled hrown, streaked with blackish hrown ; a pale stripe over the eye ; upper 
and under surfaee light reddish brown, each feather edged with a lunule of blackish brown in the centre, 
lesser wing-coverts hair-brown, with paler margins ; speculum the same as in the male ; tail dark brown, 
edged and tipped with huffy brown and white ; chin and throat white ; abdomen white ; bill paler than 
in the male, and margined with yellowish orange. 
The Plate represents a male of the size of life, and a female considerably reduced. 
