DUSKY DUCK. 
177 
of the beach. The eggs are eight or ten in number, very nearly' 
resembling those of the domestic duck. Vast numbers, how- 
ever, regularly migrate farther north on the approach of spring. 
During their residence here in winter they frequent the marshes, 
and the various creeks and inlets with which those extensive 
flats are intersected. Their principal food consists of those 
minute snail shells so abundant in the marshes. They occa- 
sionally visit the sandy beach in search of small bivalves, and, 
on these occasions, sometimes cover whole acres with their num- 
bers. They roost at night in the shallow ponds, in the middle 
of the salt marsh, particularly on islands, where many are caught 
by the foxes. They are extremely shy during the day ; and, 
on the most distant report of a musket, rise from every quarter 
of the marsh in prodigious numbers, dispersing in every direc- 
tion. In calm weather they fly high, beyond the reach of 
shot ; but when the wind blows hard, and the gunner conceals 
himself among the salt grass, in a place over which they usually 
fly, they are shot down in great numbers ; their flight being 
then low. Geese, brant, and black duck, are the common 
game of all our gunners along this part of the coast during 
places are the woody districts skirting the Mackenzie, to the north of the 
sixty-seventh parallel, and also the islands of the Arctic Sea. 
7. A. segetum, Meyer — Common Bean Goose. — Inhabiting the more Arctic 
regions. Bonaparte mentions also four additional species as probably 
accidental inhabitants of the United States and the Arctic countries — 
A, cinereusy Meyer.— ^4. rufescensy Brehm. — A. medius, Temm., and A. 
cineraceus, Brehm. 
Bernicla, Steph, 
8. B. leucopsis, (Anas erythropus, Linn. — A. leucopsis, Temm.) — Inhabit- 
ing the Arctic circle, migrating during winter to more temperate regions, 
and very rare and accidental in the United States. 
9. B. Hutchinsii, (Anser HutchinsU, Richard. — Hutchin's Bernacle, North. 
Zool. ii. p. 470.). — Described by Dr Richardson as a variety of the 
brant, in the Appendix to Captain Parry’s second volume, and dis- 
tinguished from it during the last Arctic expedition Ed. 
VOL. III. M 
