44 
THE VELVET DUCK. 
southern coast of Labrador. Thousands of sterile individuals, however, 
spend the summer on the Bay of Fundy. 
During the breeding season, the Velvet Duck resembles the Eider in its 
habits, only that it prefers fresh water, which is rarely the case with the 
other species. The males leave the females after incubation has commenced. 
Those which breed at Labrador ,]pegin to form heir nests from the 1st to the 
10th of June, and on the 28th of July I caught some young ones several days 
old. The nests are placed within a few feet of the borders of small lakes, a 
mile or two distant from the sea, and usually under the low boughs of the 
bushes, of the twigs of which, with mosses and various plants matted 
together, they are formed, They are large and almost flat, several inches 
thick, with some feathers of the female, but no down, under the eggs, which 
are usually six in number, intermediate in size between those of the Eider 
and King Ducks, measuring an inch and three quarters in length, one and 
seven-eighths in breadth, of a uniform pale cream-colour, tinged with green, 
not pure white as stated by some authors. On the 28th of July I procured 
five young ones out of a brood of six, among which, although to appearance 
scarcely a week old, I could readily distinguish the males from the females 
as they swam on the little pond around their mother, the former having 
already a white spot under the eye. The down with which they were 
covered was rather stiff and hair-like, of a black colour, excepting under the 
chin, where there was a small patch of white. They swam with great ease, 
and when we drove them into a narrow place for the purpose of catching 
them, they several times turned upon us and dived with the view of getting 
back to the middle of the pond, so that at last we found it necessary to shoot 
them. Only one escaped ashore, which my young friend Thomas Lincoln 
caught, but afterwards restored to its mother, which continued on the pond, 
manifesting the greatest anxiety, and calling to her brood all the while 
with short squeaking notes, by no means unpleasant to the ear. On being 
shot at, she flew off to another pond, but soon returned. Her plumage was 
rusty and ragged, but the wings seemed to be complete, as she flew with 
great ease, springing at once from the water. 
Mr. Jones of Bras d’Or assured me, that either that individual or another 
of the same species, had bred on the same pond for six or seven years in 
succession, and that he had looked at the nest and observed her manners 
when leading about the young, which he said did not leave the pond until 
they were able to fly. That year, 1833, she and her mate had arrived nearly 
a month later than usual. This accounted for the small size of the young, 
which he was sorry to see dead ; and here let me say that Mr. Jones, who is 
not only a good-hearted and benevolent man, but also fond of observing 
