151 
VELVET DUCK. 
jijVAs Fusaa. 
[Plate LXXIL — Fig. 3, Male,] 
Gmel. S^st. I, /». 507, JVo, 6. — Ind. Orn. p. 848, Ab. 44. Gen, Syiu III,/;. 482, Ab. 37. 
La grande Macreuse^ Briss. VI, p, 423, 29. — La double Macreiise^ Bufp. IX, p, 242. 
PL Enl. 956. — Arct. Zool. Ab. 482. Br, ZooL JVo. 272, pi. 96, tnale and female. — Be- 
wick, II, p. 286. — Montagu, Orn. Die. — Canard double Macreiise^ Temm. Man. c/’Orw. 
p. 854. — Cuv. Rig, An, I, p. 533, — Peale’s Museum^ No. 2658, female, 
THIS and the preceding are frequently confounded together, 
as one and the same species, by our gunners on tlie seacoast. The 
present, however, differs in being of greater size ; in having a broad 
band of white across the wing ; a spot of the same under the eye ; 
and in the structure of its bill. The habits of both are very much 
alike ; they visit us only during the winter ; feed entirely on shell- 
fish, which they procure by diving; and return to the northern 
regions early in spring to breed. They often associate with the 
Scoters, and are taken frequently in the same nets with them. 
Owing to the rank fishy flavor of its flesh, it is seldom sought after 
by our sportsmen, and is very little esteemed. 
The Velvet Duck measures twenty-three inches in length, and 
two feet nine inches in extent, and weighs more than three pounds; 
the bill is broad, a little elevated at the base, where it is black, 
the rest red, except the lower mandible, which is of a pale yellow- 
ish white, both mandibles edged with black, and deeply toothed ; 
irides pale cream ; under the eye is a small spot of white ; general 
color of the plumage brownish black, the secondaries excepted, 
which are white, forming a broad band across the wing; there are 
a few reflections of purple on the upper plumage ; the legs 
are 
