THE SUMMER DUCK. 
131 
and markings, from those of the full-grown male, except 
the head and neck not being of so deep a black. The 
membrane on the forehead was not more than half the 
size of that of the female specimen, described above, and it 
was of the same colour, viz., dark chestnut. All the birds 
which I have ever seen, had this appendage of the same 
colour. 
In Lewis and Clark’s history of their expedition, mention 
is made of a bird which is common on the Columbia; is 
said to be very noisy, to have a sharp, shrill whistle, and 
to associate in large flocks ; it is called the Black Duck. 
This is doubtless a species of Coot, but whether or not dif- 
ferent from ours, cannot be ascertained. How much is it 
to be regretted, that, in an expedition of discovery, planned 
and fitted out by an enlightened government, furnished 
with every means for safety, subsistence, and research, not 
one naturalist, not one draughtsman, should have been sent, 
to observe and perpetuate the infinite variety of natural 
productions, many of which are entirely unknown to the 
community of science, which that extensive tour must have 
revealed ! 
THE SUMMER, or WOOD DUCK. {Anas sponsa .) 
This most beautiful of Ducks (says Nuttall) seems to be 
dressed in a studied attire, to which the addition of a flow- 
