CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 
345 
brought them from a dollar to a dollar and a half per pair, uni- 
versal surprise and regret were naturally enough excited. 
The Canvas-back is two feet long, and three feet in extent, 
and when in good order weighs three pounds; the bill is large, 
rising high in the head, three inches in length, and one inch 
and three-eighths thick at the base, of a glossy black; eye very 
small, irides dark red; cheeks and fore part of the head black- 
ish brown; rest of the head and greater pai't of the neck bright 
glossy reddish chestnut, ending in a broad space of black that 
covers the upper part of the breast, and spreads round to the 
back; back, scapulars, and tertials white, faintly marked with 
an infinite number of transverse waving lines or points as if 
done with a pencil; whole lower parts of the breast, also the 
belly, white, slightly pencilled in the same manner, scarcely 
perceptible on the breast, pretty thick towards the vent; wing 
coverts gray with numerous specks of blackish; primaries and 
secondaries pale slate, two or three of the latter of which near- 
est the body are finely edged with deep velve tty black, the for- 
mer dusky at the tips; tail very short, pointed, consisting of 
fourteen feathers of a hoary brown; vent and tail coverts black; 
lining of the wing white; legs and feet very pale ash, the latter 
three inches in width, a circumstance which partly accounts for 
its great powers of swimming. 
The female is somewhat less than the male, and weighs two 
pounds and three quarters; the crown is blackish brown, cheeks 
and throat of a pale drab; neck dull brown; breast as far as the 
black extends on the male, dull brown skirted in places with 
pale drab; back dusky white crossed with fine waving lines; 
belly of the same dull white, pencilled like the back; wings, 
feet, and bill, as in the male; tail coverts dusky, vent white 
waved with brown. 
The windpipe of the male has a large flattish concave laby- 
rinth, the ridge of which is covered with a thin transparent 
membrane; where the trachea enters this it is a very narrow, 
but immediately above swells to three times that diameter. The 
intestines are wide, and measure five feet in length. 
VOL. III. — y y 
