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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY;

OR,

THE NATURAL HISTORY

OF THE

BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES.

ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES

Engraved and Colored from Original Drawings taken from Nature.
BY ALEXANDER WILSON.

VOL. VIIL.

PHILADELPHIA :

PUBLISHED BY BRADFORD AND INSKEEP.

PRINTED BY ROBERT AND WILLIAM CARR,

a eececcescocesceoacscesseea00

PREFACE.

THE patrons of the AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY are now pre-
sented with the eighth volume of that work, which, unfortunately
for the interest of science, was left unfinished by its ingenious and
indefatigable author. It was the intention of Mr. Wilson to com-
plete the whole in nine volumes; and he was rapidly advancing
to a close, when he was suddenly arrested in his honorable and
useful career, by a mandate from that Power, ho so often frus-
trates human purposes; and whose mighty scheme of Providence
no created being can comprehend.

The historical part of the present volume was fully complet-
ed and printed off; and all the plates, except one, were engraved,
under the superintendence of the author himself. But from the
defection of those on whom he had relied for assistance in the
coloring of his subjects, and the great difficulty of immediately
procuring others competent to the task, that branch of the work
did not keep pace with the rest; and hence the publication of the
volume has been delayed, by causes beyond the control of those
on whom, at Mr. Wilson’s death, his affairs devolved. But this
delay, we trust, has been of benefit to the work, as it enabled us te

employ an artist who formerly gained the confidence of the author

IV PREFACE.

by his skill and attention to the duties assigned him; and who
has given assurance of continuing his assistance until the whole
is completed. With such a coadjutor, our labors, in that depart-
ment, will be considerably lightened; and with deference we hope,
that the public will not so readily perceive the absence of that
hand, whose delicate touches imparted hues and animation to the
pictured ‘denizens of the air,” which might almost vie with the
interesting originals themselves. |

The present volume contains. much valuable matter; and
when viewed as the last fruit of the fertile and philosophical mind
of its amiable author, will be doubtless received with no ordinary
degree of attention. In it we are presented with correct and highly
finished delineations of the whole of that interesting and useful
tribe, the dnas genus,* that frequent our waters. ‘The histories
of some are necessarily imperfect, as they are but partially known,
and seldom permit an opportunity of investigation. Others from
their habits not exciting much interest, have been too much ne-
glected by naturalists; and the biographer of their simple lives
was condemned, however repugnant to his wishes and intentions,
to pass them over in a brief and unsatisfactory manner. But the
historian has had it in his power to confer that justice on a few,
whose merits have been considered by ornithologists and connois-
seurs as of the first order, to which they are fairly entitled; and
his faithful recitals, we trust, will amply reward attention; as nei-

ther pains nor expense has been spared to obtain correct informa-.

* With the exception of the Swan, a good specimen of which Mr. W. was never enabled to procure..

PREFACE. v

tion relating to them, which he knew would be justly valued by
a discerning and respectable community.

Of the domestic habits of the greater part of the subjects
above referred to, the scientific world unfortunately remains in
ignorance. Formed by nature with strength of wing capable of
supporting immense aerial journies, the Ducks, in the vernal sea-
son, impelled by that mysterious principle, vaguely termed in-
stinct, prepare to seek those climes which will afford them an asy-
lum during the important period of incubation; and where they
and their offspring may escape the observation of destructive man.
To the dreary regions of the north these wanderers then repair ;
each family, probably, occupying those peculiar districts, which
have been the heritage of their progenitors for ages; and which
furnish them with an abundance of food particularly adapted to
their wants, and to the rearing of their young. In that season,
could the zealous naturalist safely tread those unknown shores,
what a rich harvest would reward his enterprize and research!
He would there behold, on their own native streams, in all the
pride of independence, those various acquaintance, whose periodi-
cal wisits to his section of the globe he never failed to welcome ;
he would explore their favorite haunts; trace the operations of na-
ture in the important, consecutive work of perpetuating their kind;
note their simple manners before a knowledge of the lords of cre-
ation had taught them vigilance and stratagem; and finally behold
them congregating in prodigious multitudes, to prepare, as the
season of night and storms approaches, to migrate to those regions
where their wants may continue to be supplied; and where it

VOL. VIII. , B

Vi PREFACE.
seems to be a wise provision of the bountiful Creator of all things,
they themselves may contribute to the sustenance and comfort of
a portion of the human race. But to such an enterprize Nature
has opposed formidable barriers, such as it appears she does not
intend that we shall surmount; thereby intimating to us that she
fears to indulge a curiosity, which might ultimately prove subver-
sive of her general plan, by relinquishing to the insatiable domi-
nion of a few, what was kindly intended for the benefit of ail.
The publication of the eighth volume has been attended with
increased expense, as the nature of the figures, and the crowded
manner in which the author found himself necessitated to intro-
duce them, in order that nine volumes should comprise the whole
of our ornithology, have compelled the artists to devote more time
to the faithful discharge of their trust. How well they have suc-
ceeded in doing justice to their subjects, it is not necessary for us
to declare: as the public, in matters of taste, indulge a right of
judging for themselves. But it is proper to state that the present
volume was a favorite with its author, and he had formed the re-
solution of devoting to it a more than ordinary share of his per-
sonal attention; intending thereby to afford to his patrons a proof
that there was no falling off from his original elegance; and to
the friends of the arts, and lovers of science, a brilliant illustra-
tion of what unwearied industry could accomplish, when associ-
ated with zeal and talent. Mr. Wilson intended coloring the
chief part of the plates himself; but that design, which sprang
from the most refined sense of duty, and so fondly cherished, he

did not live to accomplish.

PREFACE. | Vil

‘The succeeding volume will be published without delay, the
plates for bbeing all engraved. In that the public may expect
a biographical account of Mr. Wilson, compiled from the most
authentic materials in the possession of his executors ; a complete
index to the whole, and a list of subscribers, which will conclude

the AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.

Philadelphia, January 19th, 1844.

*

+ ROSghINE nisin.

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INDEX

TO THE EIGHTH VOLUME.

AMERICAN Bittern
American Widgeon .

Black, or Surf Duck

Blue-winged Teal
The Brant

Buffel-headed Duck

(Male and aeas

Canada Goose
Canvas-back Duck
Dusky Duck

Kider Duck (Male)
(Female)

The Gadwall
Golden Eye
Goosander (Male)

(Female)

Great Heron

VOL. VIIf.

Ardea minor
Anas Americana
Anas perspicillata
Anas discors

Anas bernicla

Anas albeola

Anas Canadensis
Anas valisineria
Anas obscura

Anas mollissima —

Anas sirepera
Anas clangula

Mergus merganser

Ardea herodias

C

PAGE

39
86
49
74
131
51

53

. 103

141

Mt22

125

eds ew

62
68
74
28

x

Green-winged Teal
Harlequin Duck
Hooded Merganser
Least Bittern
Long-billed Curlew

Long-tailed Duck (Male) f
(Female)

Louisiana Heron

The Mallard

Marsh Tern

Pied Duck

Pied Oyster-catcher .
Pintail Duck

Red-breasted Merganser.

Red Flamingo
Red-headed Duck
Ruddy Duck (Male)

(Female)
Scarlet Ibis
Scaup Duck
Scoter Duck
Shoveller ne
Smew, or White Nun
Snow Goose

(Young)

Sooty Tern

Summer Duck

IN DEX.

Anas crecca

Anas histrionica
Mergus cucullatus
Ardea exilis
Numenus longirostra

Anas glacialis

Ardea Ludoviciana
Anas boschas

Sterna aranea

Anas Labradora
Hamatopus ostralegus
Anas acuta

Mergus serrator
Phoencopterus ruber
Anas ferina ?

Anas rubidus

Tantalus ruber
Anas marila
Anas mgra
Anas clypeata
Mergus albellus
Anas hyperborea

Sterna fuliginosa

Anas sponsa

PAGE

101

Hig

. 143

R10

128

INDEX. Xi

PAGE

Tufted Duck : Ova kanas fuligula on 60
Velvet Duck. . Anas fusca 4 ie eo
White Ibis . . Tantalus albus : , 43
Whooping Crane. . Ardea Americana . ; 20
Wood Ibis . . ; . Lantalus loculator . 89

Yellow-crowned Heron Ardea violacea 26

oy.
eens
Sere Rial

Sai
ert

PALE

AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.

LOUISIANA HERON.
ARDEA LUDOVICIANA.
(Plate LXIV.—Fig. 1.]

PEALE’s Museum, No. 3750.

THIS is a rare and delicately formed species; occasionally
found on the swampy river shores of South Carolina, but more fre-
quently along the borders of the Mississippi, particularly below
New Orleans. In each of these places it is migratory; and in the
latter, as I have been informed, builds its nest on trees, amidst the
inundated woods. Its manners correspond very much with those
of the Blue Heron. It is quick in all its motions, darting about
after its prey with surprising agility. Small fish, frogs, lizards,
tadpoles, and various aquatic insects, constitute its principal food.

There is a bird described by Latham in his General Synop-
sis, vol. ili, p. 88, called the Dem: Egret,* which from the account
there given, seems to approach near to the present species. It is
said to inhabit Cayenne.

Length of the Louisiana Heron from the point of the bill to
the extremity of the tail twenty-three inches; the long hair-like
plumage of the rump and lower part of the back extends several
inches farther; the bill is remarkably long, measuring full five

* See also Buffon, vol. vii, p. 378.

VOL. VIII. D

14 LOUISIANA HERON.

inches, of a yellowish green at the base, black towards the point,
and very sharp; irides yellow; chin and throat white, dotted with
ferruginous and some blue; the rest of the neck is of a light vinous —
purple, intermixed on the lower part next the breast with dark
slate-colored plumage; the whole feathers of the neck are long,
narrow and pointed; head crested, consisting first of a number of
long narrow purple feathers, and under these seven or eight pen-
dent ones, of a pure white, and twice the length of the former;
upper part of the back and wings light slate; lower part of the
back and rump white, but concealed by a mass of long unwebbed
hair-like plumage, that falls over the tail and tips of the wings, ex-
tending three inches beyond them; these plumes are of a dirty
purplish brown at the base, and lighten towards the extremities to
a pale cream color; the tail is even at the tip, rather longer than
the wings, and of a fine slate; the legs and naked thighs greenish
yellow; middle claw pectinated; whole lower parts pure white.
Male and female alike in plumage, both being crested.

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.
HAMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS.
[Plate LXIV.—Fig. 2. |

Aret. Zool. No. 406.—Latu. Syn. I. p. 2149.—Caressy, I, 85.—Berwick, I, 23.—PEALE’s Museum,

V0. 4258.

THIS singular species, although nowhere numerous, inhabits
almost every sea shore, both on the new and old continent, but is
never found inland. It is the only one of its genus hitherto dis-
covered, and from the conformation of some of its parts one might
almost be led by fancy to suppose, that it had borrowed the eye
of the Pheasant, the legs and feet of the Bustard, and the bill of
the Woodpecker. |

The Oyster-catcher frequents the sandy sea beach of New
Jersey, and other parts of our Atlantic coast in summer, in small -
parties of two or three pairs together. They are extremely shy,
and, except about the season of breeding, will seldom permit a
person to approach within gun shot. ‘They walk along the shore
in a watchful stately manner, at times probing it with their long
wedge-like bills in search of small shell-fish. This appears evi-
dent on examining the hard sands where they usually resort, which
are found thickly perforated with oblong holes two or three inches
in depth. The small crabs called fiddlers, that burrow in the mud
at the bottom of inlets, are frequently the prey of the Oyster-
catcher; as are muscles, spout-fish, and a variety of other shell-
fish and sea insects with which those shores abound.

The principal food, however, of this bird, according to Ku-
ropean writers, and that from which it derives its name, is the
oyster, which it is said to watch for, and snatch suddenly from the

16 PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

shells, whenever it surprises them sufficiently open. In search of
these it is reported that it often frequents the oyster beds, look-
ing out for the slightest opening through which it may attack its
unwary prey. For this purpose the form of its bill seems very
fitly calculated. Yet the truth of these accounts are doubted by the
inhabitants of Egg Harbour and other parts of our coast, who po-
sitively assert that it never haunts such places, but confines itself
almost solely to the sands. And this opinion I am inclined to be-
lieve correct; having myself uniformly found these birds on the
smooth beach bordering the ocean, and on the higher dry and level
sands, just beyond the reach of the summer tides. On this last
situation, where the dry flats are thickly interspersed with drifted
shells, I have repeatedly found their nests, between the middle
and twenty-fifth of May. ‘The nest itself is a slight hollow in the
sand, containing three eggs, somewhat less than those of a hen,
and nearly of the same shape, of a bluish cream color, marked
with large roundish spots of black, and others of a fainter tint. In
some the ground cream color is destitute of the bluish tint, the
blotches larger and of a deep brown. The young are hatched
about the twenty-fifth of May, and sometimes earlier, having my-
self caught them running along the beach about that period. They
are at first covered with down of a greyish color, very much re-
sembling that of the sand, and marked with a streak of brownish
black on the back, rump and neck, the breast being dusky, where
in the old ones it is black. The bill is at that age slightly bent
downwards at the tip, where, like most other young birds, it has a
hard protuberance that assists them in breaking the shell; but in
a few days afterwards this falls off.* These run along the shore
with great ease and swiftness.

* Latham observes, that the young are said to be hatched in about three weeks; and though
they are wild when in flocks, yet are easily brought up tame if taken young. «I have known them,”
says he, «to be thus kept for a long time, frequenting the ponds and ditehes during the day, attending

the ducks and other poultry to shelter of nights, and not wnfrequently to come up of themselves as
evening approaehes. Gen. Synop. vol. iii, p. 220.

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. 17

The female sits on her eggs only during the night, or in re-
markably cold and rainy weather; at other times the heat of the
sun and of the sand, which is sometimes great, renders incubation
unnecessary. But although this is the case, she is not deficient in
care or affection. She watches the spot with an attachment, anxic-
ty and perseverance that are really surprising, till the time arrives
when her little offspring burst their prisons, and follow the guiding
voice of their mother. When there is appearance of danger they
squat on the sand, from which they are with difficulty distinguish-
ed, while the parents make large circuits around the intruder,
alighting sometimes on this hand, sometimes on that, uttering re-
peated cries, and practising the common affectionate stratagem of
counterfeited lameness to allure him from their young.

These birds run and fly with great vigor and velocity. Their
note is a loud and shrill whistling wheep—wheep—wheo, smartly
uttered. <A flock will often rise, descend, and wheel in air with
remarkable regularity, as if drilled to the business, the glitter-
ing white of their wings at such times being very conspicuous.
They are more remarkable for this on their first arrival in the
spring. Some time ago I received a stuffed specimen of the
Oyster-catcher from a gentleman of Boston, an experienced sports-
man, who nevertheless was unacquainted with this bird. He in-
formed me that two very old men to whom it was shewn called it
a Hagdel. We adds, “it was shot from a flock which was first
discovered on the beach near the entrance of Boston harbour. On
the approach of the gunner they rose and instantly formed in line,
like a corps of troops, and advanced in perfect order, keeping well
dressed. They made a number of circuits in the air previous to
being shot at, but wheeled in line; and the man who fired into the
flock, observed that all their evolutions were like a regularly or-
ganized military company.”

The Oyster-catcher will not only take to the water when
wounded, but can also swim and dive well. This fact I can as

VOL. VIII. B

18 PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

sert from my own observation, the exploits of one of them in this
way having nearly cost me my life. On the sea beach of Cape
May, not far from a deep and rapid inlet, I broke the wing of one
of these birds, and being without a dog, instantly pursued it to-
wards the inlet, which it made for with great rapidity. We both
plunged in nearly at the same instant; but the bird eluded my
grasp, and I sunk beyond my depth; it was not until this moment
that I recollected having carried in my gun along with me. On
rising to the surface I found the bird had dived, and a strong ebb
current was carrying me fast towards the ocean, encumbered with
a gun and all my shooting apparatus; I was compelled to relin-
quish my bird, and to make for the shore, with considerable mor-
tification, and the total destruction of the contents of my powder-
horn. ‘The wounded bird afterwards rose, and swam with ao
buoyancy out among the breakers.

On the same day I shot and examined three individuals of this
species, two of which measured each eighteen inches in length, and
thirty-five inches in extent; the other was somewhat less. The
bills varied in length, measuring three inches and three quarters,
three and a half, and three and a quarter, thinly compressed at
the point, very much like that of the Woodpecker tribe, but re-
markably narrowed near the base where the nostrils are placed,
probably that it may work with more freedom in the sand. This
instrument for two-thirds of its length towards the point, was evi-
dently much worn by digging; its color a rich orange scarlet,
somewhat yellowish near the tip; eye large, orbits of the same
bright scarlet as the bill, irides brilliant yellow, pupil small, bluish
black; under the eye is a small spot of white, and a large bed of
the same on the wing coverts; head, neck, scapulars, rump, wing
quills, and tail black; several of the primaries are marked on the
outer vanes with a slanting band of white; secondaries white, part
of them tipt with black; the whole lower parts of the body, sides
of the rump, tail coverts, and that portion of the tail which they

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER. £9

cover, are pure white; the wings, when shut, cover the whole white
plumage of the back and rump; legs and naked part of the thighs
pale red; feet three toed, the outer joined to the middle by a broad
and strong membrane, and each bordered with a rough warty
edge; the soles of the feet are defended from the hard sand and
shells by a remarkably thick and callous warty skin.

On opening these birds the smallest of the three was found to
be a male; the gullet widened into a kind of crop; the stomach; |
or gizzard, contained fragments of shell-fish, pieces of crabs, and
of the great king-crab, with some dark brown marine insects. The
flesh was remarkably firm and muscular, the skull thick and
strong, intended no doubt, as in the Woodpecker tribe, for the se-
curity of the brain from the violent concussions it might receive
while the bird was engaged in digging. The female and young
birds have the back and scapulars of a sooty brownish olive.

This species is found as far south as Cayenne and Surinam.
Dampier met with it on the coast of New Holland; the British
circumnavigators also saw it on Van Diemen’s Land, Terra del
Fuego, and New Zealand.

20

WHOOPING CRANE.
ARDEA AMERICANA.

[Plate LXIV.—Fig. 3. ]

Arct. Zool. No. 339.—CATEsBY, I, 75.—Latn. II, p.42.—La Grue d’Amerique, Briss. V, p. 382.—

Pl. Enl. 889.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 370+.

THIS is the tallest and most stately species of all the fea-
thered tribes of the United States; the watchful inhabitant of ex-
tensive salt marshes, desolate swamps, and open morasses, in the
neighbourhood of the sea. Its migrations are regular, and of the
most extensive kind, reaching from the shores and inundated tracts
of South America to the arctic circle. In these immense periodi-
cal journies they pass at such a prodigious height in the air as to
be seldom observed. They have, however, their resting stages on
the route to and from their usual breeding places, the regions of
the north. A few sometimes make their appearance in the marshes
of Cape May, in December, particularly on and near Egg island,
where they are known by the name of Storks. The younger birds
are easily distinguished from the rest by the brownness of their
plumage. Some linger in these marshes the whole winter, setting
out north about the time the ice breaks up. During their stay they
wander along the marsh and muddy flats of the sea shore in search
of marine worms, sailing occasionally from place to place, with a
low and heavy flight, a little above the surface; and have at such
times a very formidable appearance. At times they utter a loud
clear and piercing cry, which may be heard at the distance of two
miles. They have also various modulations of this singular note,
from the peculiarity of which they derive their name. When
wounded they attack the gunner, or his dog, with great resolu-

WHOOPING CRANE. i

tion; and have been known to drive their sharp and formidable
bill, at one stroke, through a man’s hand.

During winter they are frequently seen in the low grounds
and rice plantations of the southern states, in search of grain and
insects. On the tenth of February I met with several near the
Waccamau river, in South Carolina; I also saw a flock at the
ponds near Louisville, Kentucky, on the twentieth of March. They
are extremely shy and vigilant, so that it is with the greatest dif-
ficulty they can be shot. ‘They sometimes rise in the air spirally
to a great height, the mingled noise of their screaming, even when
they are almost beyond the reach of sight, resembling that of a
pack of hounds in full cry. On these occasions they fly around in
Jarge circles, as if reconnoitring the country to a vast extent for a
fresh quarter to feed in. Their flesh is said to be well tasted, no
ways savouring of fish. They swallow mice, moles, rats, &c. with
great avidity. They build their nests on the ground, in tussocks
of long grass, amidst solitary swamps, raise it to more than a foot
in height, and lay two pale blue eggs, spotted with brown. ‘These
are much larger, and of a more lengthened form, than those of the
common hen.

The Cranes are distinguished from the other families of their
genus by the comparative baldness of their heads, the broad flag
of plumage projecting over the tail, and in general by their supe-
rior size. They also differ in their internal organization from all
the rest of the Heron tribe, particularly in the conformation of the
windpipe, which enters the breast bone in a cavity fitted to receive
it, and after several turns goes out again at the same place, and
thence descends to the lungs. Unlike the Herons, they have not
the inner side of the middle claw pectinated, and, in this species
at least, the hind toe is short, scarcely reaching the ground.

The vast marshy flats of Siberia are inhabited by a Crane very
much resembling the present, with the exception of the bill and
VOL. VIII. F

22 WHOOPING CRANE.

legs being red; like those of the present, the year old birds are
said also to be tawny.

It is highly probable that the species described by naturalists
as the Brown Crane (Ardea Canadensis), is nothing more than the
young of the Whooping Crane, their descriptions exactly corres-
ponding with the latter. In a flock of six or eight, three or four
are usually of that tawny or reddish brown tint on the back, sca-
pulars and wing coverts; but are evidently yearlings of the Whoop-
ing Crane, and differ in nothing but in that and size from the others.
They are generally five or six inches shorter, and the primaries
are of a brownish cast.

The Whooping Crane is four feet six inches in length, from
the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and when standing erect
measures nearly five feet; the bill is six inches long, and an inch
and a half in thickness, straight, extremely sharp, and of a yellow-
ish brown color; the irides are yellow; the forehead, whole crown
and cheeks are covered with a warty skin thinly interspersed with
black hairs; these become more thickly set towards the base of
the bill; the hind head is of an ash color; the rest of the plumage
pure white, the primaries excepted, which are black; from the root
of each wing rise numerous large flowing feathers projecting over
the tail and tips of the wings; the uppermost of these are broad,
drooping, and pointed at the extremities, some of them are also
loosely webbed, their silky fibres curling inwards like those of the
Ostrich. They seem to occupy the place of the tertials. The legs
and naked part of the thighs are black, very thick and strong; the
hind toe seems rarely or never to reach the hard ground, tho it
may probably assist in preventing the bird from sinking too deep

in the mire.

23
LONG-BILLED CURLEW.
NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRA.

[Plate LXIV.—Fig. 4.]

Peae’s Museum, No. 3910.

THIS American species has been considered by the naturalists
of Europe to be a mere variety of their own, notwithstanding its
difference of color, and superior length of bill. These differences
not being accidental, or found in a few individuals, but common to
all, and none being found in America corresponding with that of
Europe, we do not hesitate to consider the present as a distinct
species, peculiar to this country.

Like the preceding, this bird is an inhabitant of marshes in
the vicinity of the sea. It is also found in the interior; where,
from its long bill and loud whistling note, it is generally known.

_The Curlews appear in the salt marshes of New Jersey about
the middle of May, on their way to the north; and in September,
on their return from their breeding places. Their food consists
chiefly of small crabs, which they are very dexterous at probing
for, and pulling out of the holes with their long bills; they also
feed on those small sea snails so abundant in the marshes, and on
various worms and insects. They are likewise fond of bramble
berries, frequenting the fields and uplands in search of this fruit,
on which they get very fat, and are then tender and good eating,
altogether free from the sedgy taste with which their flesh is usually
tainted while they feed in the salt marshes. |

The Curlews fly high, generally in a wedge-like form, some-
what resembling certain Ducks; occasionally uttering their loud

whistling note, by a dexterous imitation of which a whole flock

24 LONG-BILLED CURLEW.

may sometimes be enticed within gunshot, while the cries of the
wounded are sure to detain them until the gunner has made re-
peated shots and great havoc among them.

This species is said to breed in Labrador, and in the neigh-
bourhood of Hudson’s Bay. A few instances have been known of
one or two pair remaining in the salt marshes of Cape May all
summer. A person of respectability informed me, that he once
started a Curlew from her nest, which was composed of a little dry
grass, and contained four eggs, very much resembling in size and
color those of the Mud Hen, or Clapper Rail. This was in the
month of July. Cases of this kind are so rare, that the northern
regions must be considered as the general breeding place of this
species.

The Long-billed Curlew is twenty-five inches in length, and
three feet three inches in extent, and when in good order weighs
about thirty ounces; but individuals differ greatly in this respect;
the bill is eight inches long, nearly straight for half its length,
thence curving considerably downwards to its extremity, where it
ends in an obtuse knob that overhangs the lower mandible; the
color black, except towards the base of the lower, where it is of a
pale flesh color; tongue extremely short, differing in this from the
Snipe; eye dark; the general color of the plumage above is black,
spotted and barred along the edge of each feather with pale brown;
chin, line over the eye and round the same, pale brownish white;
neck reddish brown, streaked with black; spots on the breast more
sparingly dispersed; belly, thighs and vent pale plain rufous, with-
out any spots; primaries black on the outer edges, pale brown on
the inner, and barred with black; shaft of the outer one snowy;
rest of the wing pale reddish brown, elegantly barred with undu-
lating lines of black; tail slightly rounded, of an ashy brown, beau-
tifully marked with herring-bones of black; legs and naked thighs
very pale light blue or lead color, the middle toe connected with
the two outer ones as far as the first joint by a membrane, and bor-

LONG-BILLED CURLEW. | ays)

dered along the sides with a thick warty edge; lining of the wing
dark rufous, approaching a chesnut, and thinly spotted with black.
Male and female alike in plumage. The bill continues to grow
in length until the second season, when the bird receives its per-
fect plumage. The stomach of this species is lined with an ex-
tremely thick skin, feeling to the touch like the rough hardened
palm of a sailor or blacksmith. The intestines are very tender,
measuring usually about three feet in length, and as thick as a
Swan’s quill. On the front, under the skin, there are two thick
callosities, which border the upper side of the eye, lying close to
the skull. These are common, I believe, to most of the Tringa
and Scolopax tribes, and are probably designed to protect the skull
from injury while the bird is probing and searching in the sand

and mud.

VOLE. Vii G

26

YELLOW-CROWNED HERON.
ARDEA VIOLACEA.

[Plate LXV.—Fig. 1.]

Linn. Syst. I, p. 238. 146.—Latu. Syn. TI, p. 80.—Le Crabier de Bahama, Briss. V, p. 481. 44.—
Crested Bittern, Caress. I, pl. 79.—Le Crabier gris de jer, Burr. VIL, p. 399.—Arct. Zool. No.
352.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 3738.

‘THIS is one of the nocturnal species of the Heron tribe whose
manners, place and mode of building its nest, resemble greatly
those of the common Night Heron (Ardea nycticorax); the form
of its bill is also similar. The very imperfect figure and descrip-
tion of this species by Catesby, seems to have led the greater part
of European ornithologists astray, who appear to have copied their
accounts from that erroneous source, otherwise it is difficult to
conceive why they should either have given it the name of yellow-
crowned, or have described it as being only fifteen inches in length;
since the crown of the perfect bird is pure white, and the whole
length very near two feet. The name however, erroneous as it is,
has been retained in the present account, for the purpose of more
particularly pointing out its absurdity, and designating the species.

This bird inhabits the lower parts of South Carolina, Geor-
gia, and Louisiana in the summer season; reposing during the day
among low swampy woods, and feeding only in the night. It
builds in societies, making its nest with sticks among the branches
of low trees, and lays four pale blue eggs. The species is not nu-
merous in Carolina, which, with its solitary mode of life, makes
this bird but litthe known there. It abounds on the Bahama
islands, where it also breeds, and great numbers of the young, as
we are told, are yearly taken for the table, being accounted in that

quarter excellent eating. This bird also extends its migrations

YELLOW-CROWNED HERON. OF

into Virginia, and even farther north; one of them having been
shot a few years ago on the borders of Schuylkill below Phila-
delphia.

The food of this species consists of small fish, crabs and li-
zards, particularly the former; it also appears to have a strong
attachment to the neighbourhood of the ocean.

The Yellow-crowned Heron is twenty-two inches in length,
from the point of the bill to the end of the tail; the long flowing
plumes of the back extend four inches farther; breadth from tip
to tip of the expanded wings thirty-four inches; bill black, stout,
and about four inches in length, the upper mandible grooved ex-
actly like that of the common Night Heron; lores pale green;
irides fiery red; head and part of the neck black, marked on each
cheek with an oblong spot of white; crested crown and upper part
of the head white, ending in two long narrow tapering plumes of
pure white, more than seven inches long; under these are a few
others of a blackish color; rest of the neck and whole lower parts
fine ash, somewhat whitish on that part of the neck where it joins
the black; upper parts a dark ash, each feather streaked broadly
down the center with black, and bordered with white; wing quills
deep slate, edged finely with white; tail even at the end, and of
the same ash color; wing coverts deep slate, broadly edged with
pale cream; from each shoulder proceed a number of long loosely
webbed tapering feathers, of an ash color, streaked broadly down
the middle with black, and extending four inches or more beyond
the tips of the wings; legs and feet yellow; middle claw pecti-
nated. Male and female, as in the common Night Heron, alike
in plumage.

I strongly suspect that the species called by naturalists the
Cayenne Night Heron (Ardea Cayanensis), is nothing more than
the present, with which, according to their descriptions, it seems
to agree almost exactly.

28

GREAT HERON.
ARDEA HERODIAS.

[Plate LXV.—Fig. 2. |

Le Heron hupé de Virginie, Briss. V, p. 446. 10.—Le Grand Heron d’ Amerique, Burr. VII, p. 385.—
Larger crested Heron, Caress. App. pl. 10, fig. 1.—Latu. Syn. If, p. 85.—Arct. Zool. No. 344.
—PEALE’s Museum, N’0. 3629.

THE history of this large and elegant bird having been long
involved in error and obscurity,* I have taken more than common
pains to present a faithful portrait of it in this place; and to add
to that every fact and authentic particular relative to its manners
which may be necessary to the elucidation of the subject.

The Great Heron is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantie
coast from New York to Florida; in deep snows and severe wea-
ther seeking the open springs of the cedar and cypress swamps,
and the muddy inlets occasionally covered by the tides. On the
higher inland parts of the country, beyond the mountains, they are
less numerous; and one which was shot in the upper parts of New
Hampshire, was described to me as a great curiosity. Many of
their breeding places occur in both Carolinas, chiefly in the vici-
nity of the sea. In the lower parts of New Jersey they have also
their favorite places for building, and rearing their young. ‘These
are generally in the gloomy solitudes of the tallest cedar swamps,
where, if unmolested, they continue annually to breed for many

years. These swamps are from half a mile to a mile in breadth,

* Latham says of this species, that “all the upper parts of the body, the belly, tail and legs
are brown;” and this description has been repeated by every subsequent compiler. Buffon, with his
usual eloquent absurdity, deseribes the Heron as “ exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, anxiety and
indigence; condemned to struggle perpetually with misery and want; sickened with the restless cravings
of a famished appetite ;” a description so ridiculously untrue, that, were it possible for these birds to
comprehend it, would excite the risibility of the whole tribe.

GREAT HERON. ag

‘and sometimes five or six in length, and appear as if they occupied
the former channel of some choked up river, stream, lake, or arm
of the sea. The appearance they present to a stranger is singu-
lar. A front of tall and perfectly straight trunks, rising to the
height of fifty or sixty feet without a limb, and crowded in every
direction, their tops so closely woven together as to shut out the
day, spreading the gloom of a perpetual twilight below. On a
nearer approach they are found to rise out of the water, which,
from the impregnation of the fallen leaves and roots of the cedars,
is of the color of brandy. Amidst this bottom of congregated
springs, the ruins of the former forest. lie piled in every state of
confusion. The roots, prostrate logs, and in many places the
water, are covered with green mantling moss, while an under-
growth of laurel, fifteen or twenty feet high, intersects every open-
ing so completely, as to render a passage through laborious and
harassing beyond description; at every step you either sink to the
knees, clamber over fallen timber, squeeze yourself through be-
tween the stubborn laurels, or plunge to the middle in ponds made
by the uprooting of large trees, and which the green moss con-
cealed from observation. In calm weather the silence of death
reigns in these dreary regions; a few interrupted rays of light
shoot across the gloom; and unless for the occasional hollow
screams of the Herons, and the melancholy chirping of one or two
species of small birds, all is silence, solitude and desolation. When
a breeze rises, at first it sighs mournfully through the tops; but as
the gale increases, the tall mast-like cedars wave like fishing poles,
and rubbing against each other, produce a variety of singular
noises, that, with the help of a little imagination, resemble shrieks,
eroans, growling of bears, wolves and such like comfortable music.

On the tops of the tallest of these cedars the Herons construct
their nests, ten or fifteen pair sometimes occupying a particular
part of the swamp. The nests are large, formed of sticks, and
lined with smaller twigs, each occupies the top of a single tree.

VOL. VIII. H

30 GREAT HERON.

The eggs are generally four, of an oblong pointed form, larger
than those of a hen, and of a light greenish blue without any spots.
The young are produced about the middle of May, and remain on
the trees until they are full as heavy as the old ones, being ex-
tremely fat, before they are able to fly. They breed but once in
the season. If disturbed in their breeding place, the old birds fly
occasionally over the spot, sometimes honking like a Goose, some-
times uttering a coarse hollow grunting noise like that of a hog,
but much louder.

The Great Heron is said to be fat at the full moon, and lean
at its decrease; this might be accounted for by the fact of their
fishing regularly by moonlight through the greater part of the
night, as well as during the day; but the observation is not uni-
versal, for at such times I have found some lean as well as others
fat. The young are said to be excellent for the table, and even
the old birds, when in good order, and properly cooked, are es-
teemed by many.

The principal food of the Great Heron is fish, for which he
watches with the most unwearied patience, and seizes them with
surprising dexterity. At the edge of the river, pond or sea shore
he stands fixed and motionless, sometimes for hours together.
But his stroke is quick as thought, and sure as fate to the first
luckless fish that approaches within his reach; these he sometimes
beats to death, and always swallows head foremost, such being
their uniform position in the stomach. He is also an excellent
mouser, and of great service to our meadows in destroying the
short-tailed or meadow mouse, so injurious to the banks. He also
feeds eagerly on grasshoppers, various winged insects, particularly
dragon flies, which he is very expert at striking, and also eats the
seeds of that species of nymphz usually called splatter docks, so
abundant along our fresh water ponds and rivers.

The Heron has great powers of wing, flying sometimes very
high, and to a great distance; his neck doubled, his head drawn

GREAT HERON. 31

in, and his long legs stretched out in a right line behind him, ap-
pearing like a tail, and probably serving the same rudder-like
office. When he leaves the sea coast, and traces on wing the
courses of the creeks or rivers upwards, he is said to prognosticate
rain; when downwards, dry weather. He is most jealously vigi-
lant and watchful of man, so that those who wish to succeed. in
shooting the Heron, must approach him entirely unseen, and by
stratagem. ‘The same inducements, however, for his destruction
do not prevail here as in Europe. Our sea shores and rivers are
free to all for the amusement of fishing. Luxury has not yet con-
structed her thousands of fish ponds, and surrounded them with
steel traps, spring guns, and Heron snares.* In our vast fens, mea-
dows and sea marshes, this stately bird roams at pleasure, feast-
ing on the never-failing magazines of frogs, fish, seeds and insects
with which they abound, and of which he probably considers him-
self the sole lord and proprietor. I have several times seen the
Bald Eagle attack and tease the Great Heron; but whether for
sport, or to make him disgorge his fish, I am uncertain.

The common Heron of Europe (Ardea major) very much re-
sembles the present, which might, as usual, have probably been
ranked as the original stock, of which the present was a mere de-

* «The Heron,” says an English writer, “is a very great devourer of fish, and does more mis-
chief in a pond than an otter. People who have kept Herons have had the curiosity te number the
fish they feed them with, into a tub of water, and counting them again afterwards, it has been found
that they will eat up fifty moderate dace and roaches in a day. It has been found that in carp ponds
visited by this bird, one Heron will eat up a thousand store carp in a year; and will hunt them so close
as to let very few escape. The readiest method of destroying this mischievous bird is by fishing for
him in the manner of pike, with a baited hook. When the haunt of the Heron is found out, three or
four small roach, or dace, are to be procured, and each of them is to be baited on a wire, with a strong
hook at the end, entering the wire just at the gills, and letting it run just under the skin to the tail ;
the fish will live in this manner for five or six days, which is a very essential thing; for if it be dead,
the Heron will not touch it. A strong line is then to be prepared of silk and wire twisted together,
and is to be about two yards long; tie this to the wire that holds the hook, and to the other end of it
there is to be tied a stone of about a pound weight; let three or four of these baits be sunk in different
shallow parts of the pond, and in a night or two’s time the Heron will not fail te be taken with one or
other of them.”

39 GREAT HERON.

generated species, were it not that the American is greatly superior
in size and weight to the European species, the former measuring
four feet four inches, and weighing upwards of seven pounds; the
latter three feet three inches, and rarely weighing more than four
pounds. Yet with the exception of size, and the rust colored thighs
of the present, they are extremely alike. 'The common Heron of
Kurope, however, is not an inhabitant of the United States.

The Great Heron does not receive his full plumage during
the first season, nor until the Summer of the second. In the first
season the young birds are entirely destitute of the white plumage
of the crown, and the long pointed feathers of the back, shoulders,
and breast. In this dress I have frequently shot them in Autumn.
But in the third year, both males and females have assumed their.
complete dress, and, contrary to,all the European accounts which
I have met with, both are then so nearly alike in color and mark-
ings, as scarcely to be distinguished from each other; both having
the long flowing crest, and all the ornamental white pointed plu-
mage of the back and breast. Indeed this sameness in the plumage
of the males and females, when arrived at their perfect state, is a
characteristic of the whole of the genus with which I am acquainted.
Whether it be different with those of Europe, or that the young
and imperfect birds have been hitherto mistaken for females I will
- not pretend to say, tho I think the latter conjecture highly proba-
ble, as the Night Raven (Ardea Nycticorax) has been known in
Europe for several centuries, and yet in all their accounts the same-
ness of the colors and plumage of the male and female of that bird
is no-where mentioned; on the contrary, the young or yearling
bird has been universally described as the female.

On the eighteenth of May I examined, both externally and by
dissection, five specimens of the Great Heron, all in complete plu-
mage, killed in a cedar swamp near the head of Tuckahoe river, in
Cape May county, New Jersey. In this case the females could not

be mistaken, as some of the eggs were nearly ready for exclusion.

GREAT HERON. 33

Length of the Great Heron four feet four inches from the
point of the bill to the end of the tail, and to the bottom of the
feet five feet four inches; extent six feet; bill eight inches long,
and one inch and a quarter in width, of a yellow color, in some
blackish on the ridge, extremely sharp at the point, the edges also
- sharp, and slightly serrated near the extremity; space round the
eye from the nostril, a light purplish blue; irides orange, bright-
ening into yellow where they join the pupil; forehead and middle
of the crown white, passing over the eye; sides of the crown and
hind head deep slate or bluish black, and elegantly crested, the
two long tapering black feathers being full eight inches in length;
chin, cheeks, and sides of the head white for several inches; throat
white, thickly streaked with double rows of black; rest of the neck
brownish ash, from the lower part of which shoot a great number
of long narrow pointed white feathers that spread over the breast
and reach nearly to the thighs; under these long plumes the breast |
itself, and middle of the belly is of a deep blackish slate, the latter
streaked with white; sides blue ash, vent white; thighs and ridges
of the wings a dark purplish rust color ; whole upper parts of the
wings, tail, and body a fine light ash, the latter ornamented with
a profusion of long narrow white tapering feathers, originating on
the shoulders or upper part of the back, and falling gracefully over
the wings; primaries very dark slate, nearly black; naked thighs
brownish yellow; legs brownish black, tinctured with yellow, and
netted with seams of whitish; in some the legs are nearly black.
Little difference could be perceived between the plumage of the
males and females; the latter were rather less, and the long point-
ed plumes of the back were not quite so abundant.

The young birds of the first year have the whole upper part
' of the head of a dark slate; want the long plumes of the breast
and back; and have the body, neck, and lesser coverts of the wings
considerably tinged with ferruginous.

VOL: Vii. I

34. GREAT HERON.

On dissection the gullet was found of great width, from the
mouth to the stomach, which has not the two strong muscular coats
that form the gizzard of some birds; it was more loose, of consi-
derable and uniform thickness throughout, and capable of contain-
ing nearly a pint; it was entirely filled with fish, among which were
- some small eels, all placed head downwards; the intestines mea-
sured nine feet in length, were scarcely as thick as a goose-quill,
and incapable of being distended; so that the vulgar story of the
Heron swallowing eels which passing suddenly through him are
repeatedly swallowed, is absurd and impossible. On the external
coat of the stomach of one of these birds, opened soon after being
shot, something like a blood vessel lay in several meandering
folds, enveloped in a membrane, and closely adhering to the sur-
face. On carefully opening this membrane it was found to con-
tain a large round living worm, eight inches in length; another of
like length was found coiled in the same manner on another part
of the external coat. It may also be worthy of notice, that the
intestines of the young birds of the first season, killed in the month
of October when they were nearly as large as the others, measured
only six feet four or five inches, those of the full grown ones from

eight to nine feet in length.

BD

AMERICAN BITTERN.
ARDEA MINOR.
[Plate LXV.—Fig. 3. |

He Butor de la Baye d’ Hudson, Briss. V, p. 449. 25.—Burr. VII, p. 430.—Epw. 136. var. 4.—LATH.

Syn. II, p. 58.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 3727.

THIS is another nocturnal species, common to all our sea
and river marshes, tho no-where numerous; it rests all day among
the reeds and rushes, and unless disturbed, flies and feeds only
during the night. In some places it is called the Indian Hen, on
the sea coast of New Jersey it is known by the name of Dunkadoso,
a word probably imitative of its common note. They are also
found in the interior, having myself killed one at the inlet of the
Seneca Lake, in October. It utters at times a hollow guttural
note among the reeds; but has nothing of that loud booming
sound for which the European Bittern is so remarkable. ‘This
circumstance, with its great inferiority of size, and difference of
marking, sufficiently prove them to be two distinct species, altho
hitherto the present has been classed as a mere variety of the
European Bittern. These birds, we are informed, visit Severn
river, at Hudson’s Bay, about the beginning of June; make their
nests in swamps, laying four cinereous green eggs among the long
grass. The young are said to be at first black.

These birds, when disturbed, rise with a hollow éwa, and are
then easily shot down, as they fly heavily. Like other night birds
their sight is most acute during the evening twilight; but their
hearing is at all times exquisite.

The American Bittern is twenty-seven inches long, and three

feet four inches in extent; from the point of the bill to the extre-

36 AMERICAN BITTERN.

mity of the toes it measures three feet; the bill is four inches long,
the upper mandible black, the lower greenish yellow; lores and
eyelids yellow; irides bright yellow; upper part of the head flat,
and remarkably deprest ; the plumage there is of a deep blackish
brown, long behind and on the neck, the general color of which
is a yellowish brown shaded with darker; this long plumage of
the neck the bird can throw forward at will, when irritated, so as
to give him a more formidable appearance; throat whitish, streak-
ed with deep brown; from the posterior and lower part of the
auriculars a broad patch of deep black passes diagonally across
the neck, a distinguished characteristic of this species; the back
is deep brown barred and mottled with innumerable specks and
streaks of brownish yellow; quills black, with a leaden gloss, and
tipt with yellowish brown; legs and feet yellow, tinged with pale
green; middle claw pectinated; belly light yellowish brown streak-
ed with darker; vent plain, thighs sprinkled on the outside with
grains of dark brown; male and female nearly alike, the latter
somewhat less. According to Bewick, the tail of the European
Bittern contains only ten feathers; the American species has in-
variably twelve. ‘The intestines measured five feet six inches in
length, and were very little thicker than a common knitting-needle;
the stomach is usually filled with fish or frogs. |

This bird when fat is considered by many to be excellent
eating.

37

LEAST BITTERN.
ARDEA EXILIS.
[Plate LXV.—Fig. 4.]
Larn. Syn. v. IIL, p. 66. Mo. 28.—Prare’s Museum, No. 3814.

THIS is the smallest known species of the whole tribe. — It
is commonly found in fresh water meadows, and rarely visits the
salt marshes. One shot near Great Egg Harbour was presented
to me as a very uncommon bird. In the meadows of Schuylkill
and Delaware below Philadelphia, a few of these birds breed
every year; making their nests in the thick tussocks of grass, in
swampy places. When alarmed they seldom fly far, but take
shelter among the reeds or long grass. ‘They are scarcely ever
seen exposed, but skulk during the day; and, like the preceding
species, feed chiefly in the night.

This little creature measures twelve inches in length, and
sixteen in extent; the bill is more than two inches and a quarter
long, yellow, ridged with black, and very sharp pointed; space
round the eye pale yellow; irides bright yellow; whole upper part
of the crested head, the back, scapulars and tail very deep slate
reflecting slight tints of green; throat white, here and there tinged
with buff; hind part of the neck dark chesnut bay, sides of the
neck, cheeks, and line over the eye brown buff; lesser wing-co-
verts the same; greater wing-coverts chesnut, with a spot of the
same at the bend of the wing, the primary coverts are also tipt
-with the same; wing quills dark slate; breast white, tinged with
ochre, under which lie a number of blackish feathers; belly and
vent white; sides pale ochre; legs greenish on the shins, hind
part and feet yellow; thighs feathered to within a quarter of an

VOL. VIII. K

38 LEAST BITTERN.

inch of the knees, middle claw pectinated ; toes tinged with pale
green; feet large, the span of the foot measuring two inches and
three quarters. Male and female nearly alike in color. The
young birds are brown on the crown and back. The stomach
was filled with small fish; and the intestines, which were extremely
slender, measured in length about four feet.

The Least Bittern is also found in Jamaica and several of
the West India islands.

J
im

rae)
ay by ah i
hl

WOOD IBIS.
TANTALUS LOCULATOR.

[Plate LXVI.—Fig. 1.]

Le grand Cowli @Amerique, Briss. V, p. 358. 8.—Couricaca, Burr. VII, p. 276. Pl. Enl. 868.—

Caress. I, 84.—Arct. Zool. No. 360.—Latu. Syn. IIL, p. 104.—Pratn’s Museum, No. 3862,

THE Wood Ibis inhabits the lower parts of Louisiana, Ca-
rolina, and Georgia; is very common in Florida, and extends as
far south as Cayenne, Brasil, and various parts of South America.
In the United States it is migratory; but has never, to my know-
ledge, been found to the north of Virginia. Its favorite haunts
are watery savannahs and inland swamps, where it feeds on fish
and reptiles. The French inhabitants of Louisiana esteem it good
eating. |

With the particular manners of this species I am not per-
sonally acquainted; but the following characteristic traits are given
of it by Mr. William Bartram, who had the best opportunities of
noting them. |

“This solitary bird,’ he observes, “does not associate in
flocks; but is generally seen alone, commonly near the banks of
great rivers, in vast marshes or meadows, especially such as are
covered by inundations, and also in the vast deserted rice planta-
tions; he stands alone, on the topmost limb of tall dead cypress
trees, his neck contracted or drawn in upon his shoulders, and his
beak resting like a long scythe upon his breast; in this pensive
posture, and solitary situation, they look extremely grave, sorrow-
ful and melancholy, as if in the deepest thought. They are never
seen on the sea coast, and yet are never found at a great distance

40 | WOOD IBIS.

from it. They feed on serpents, young alligators, frogs and other
reptiles.’’* |

The figure of this bird given in the plate was drawn from a
very fine specimen, sent from Georgia by Stephen Elliot, esq. of
Beaufort, South Carolina; its size and markings were as follow.

Length three feet two inches; bill nearly nine inches long,
straight for half its length, thence curving downwards to the ex-
tremity, and full two inches thick at the base, where it rises high
in the head, the whole of a brownish horn color; the under man-
dible fits into the upper in its whole length, and both are very
sharp edged; face and naked head and part of the neck dull
greenish blue, wrinkled; eye large, seated high in the head; irides
dark red; under the lower jaw is a loose corrugated skin, or pouch,
capable of containing about half a pint; whole body, neck and
lower parts white; quills dark glossy green and purple; tail about
two inches shorter than the wings, even at the end, and of a deep
and rich violet; legs and naked thighs dusky green; feet and toes
yellowish, sprinkled with black; feet almost semipalmated and
bordered to the claws with a narrow membrane; some of the
greater wing coverts are black at the root, and shafted with black;
plumage on the upper ridge of the neck generally worn, as in the
present specimen, with rubbing on the back, while in its common
position of resting its bill on its breast, in the manner of the White
Ibis (see fig. 3).

The female has only the head and chin naked; both are sub-
ject to considerable changes of color when young; the body being
found sometimes blackish above, the belly cinereous, and spots of
black on the wing coverts; all of which, as the birds advance in
age, gradually disappear, and leave the plumage of the body, &e.
as has been described.

* Travels, &e. p. 150.

AY

SCARLET IBIS.
TANTALUS RUBER.

[Plate LXVI.—Fig. 2. ]

Le Courli rouge dw Bresil, Briss. V, p. 344, 12, fig. 4, 2—Burr. VIL, p. 35.—Red Curlew, Cares-

ry, I, 84.—Latu. TI, p. 106.—Arct. Zool. No. 364.—Prare’s Museum, No. 3864.

THIS beautiful bird is found in the most southern parts of
Carolina; also in Georgia and Florida, chiefly about the sea shore
and its vicinity. In most parts of America within the tropics, and
in almost all the West India islands it is said to be common; also
in the Bahamas. Of its manners little more, has been collected
than that it frequents the borders of the sea and shores of the
neighbouring rivers, feeding on small fry, shell fish, sea worms
and small crabs. It is said frequently to perch on trees, some-
times in large flocks; but to lay its eggs on the ground on a bed
of leaves. The eggs are described as being of a greenish color;
the young when hatched black, soon after grey, and before they
are able to fly white, continuing gradually to assume their red
color until the third year, when the scarlet plumage is complete.
It is also said that they usually keep in flocks, the young and old
birds separately. They have frequently been domesticated. One
of them which lived for some time#@n the Museum of this city,
was dexterous at catching flies, and most usually walked about, on
that pursuit, in the position in which it is represented in the plate.

The Scarlet Ibis measures twenty-three inches in length, and
thirty-seven in extent; the bill is five inches long, thick, and some-
what of a square form at the base, gradually bent downwards, and
sharply ridged, of a black color, except near the base, where it in-
elines to red; irides dark hazel; the naked face is finely wrinkled,

WOE. VET. L

AQ SCARLET IBIS.

and of a pale red; chin also bare and wrinkled for about an inch;
whole plumage a rich glowing scarlet, except about three inches
of the extremities of the four outer quill feathers, which are of a
deep steel blue; legs and naked part of the thighs pale red, the
three anterior toes united by a membrane as far as the first joint.

Whether the female differs in the color of her plumage from
the male, or what changes both undergo during the first and se-
cond years, I am unable to say from personal observation. Being
a scarce species with us, and only found on our most remote
southern shores, a sufficient number of specimens have not been
procured to enable me to settle this matter with sufficient certainty.

43

WHITE IBIS.
TANTALUS ALBUS.
[Plate LXVI.—Fig. 3.]

Le Courli blane du Bresil, Briss. V, p. 339, 10.—Burr. VIL, p. 41. Pl. Enl. 915.—While Curlew,

Caressy, J, pl. 82.—Laru. Syn. TH, p. 144, No. 9.—Arct. Zool. No. 363.

THIS species bears in every respect except that of color, so
strong a resemblance to the preceding, that I have been almost
induced to believe it the same, in its white or imperfect stage of
color. The length and form of the bill, the size, conformation,
as well as color of the legs, the general length and breadth, and
even the steel blue on the four outer quill feathers, are exactly
alike in both. These suggestions, however, are not made with
any certainty of its being the same; but as circumstances which
may lead to a more precise examination of the subject hereafter.

I found this species pretty numerous on the borders of lake
Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, in the month of June, and also’
observed the Indians sitting in market with strings of them for
sale. I met with them again on the low keys or islands off the
peninsula of Florida. Mr. Bartram. observes that “they fly in
large flocks or squadrons, evening and morning, to and from their
feeding places or roosts, and are usually called Spanish Curlews.
They feed chiefly on cray fish, whose cells they probe, and with
their strong pinching bills drag them out.” The low islands
above mentioned abound with these creatures and small crabs, the
ground in some places seeming alive with them, so that the rat-
tling of their shells against one another was incessant. My vene-
rable friend, in his observations on these birds adds, “It is a

pleasing sight at times of high winds, and heavy thunder storms,

At WHITE IBIS.

to observe the numerous squadrons of these Spanish Curlews,
driving to and fro, turning and tacking about high up in the air,
when by their various evolutions in the different and opposite cur-
rents of the wind, high in the clouds, their silvery white plumage
gleams and sparkles like the brightest crystal, reflecting the sun-
beams that dart upon them between the dark clouds.”

The White Ibis is twenty-three inches long, and thirty-seven
inches in extent; bill formed exactly like that of the scarlet spe-
cies, of a pale red, blackish towards the point; face a reddish flesh
color and finely wrinkled; irides whitish; whole plumage pure
white, except about four inches of the tips of the four outer quill
feathers, which are of a deep and glossy steel blue; legs and feet
pale red, webbed to the first joint.

These birds I frequently observed standing on the dead limbs
of trees, and on the shore, resting on one leg, their body in an al-
most perpendicular position, as represented in the figure, the head
and bill resting on the breast. ‘This appears to be its most com-
mon mode of resting, and perhaps sleeping, as in all those which
I examined the plumage on the upper ridge of the neck and upper
part of the back, was evidently worn. by this habit. The same is
equally observable on the neck and back of the Wood Ibis.

The present species rarely extends its visits north of Carolina,
and even in that state is only seen for a few weeks towards the
end of summer. In Florida they are common; but seldom re-

move to any great distance from the sea.

AS

RED FLAMINGO.
PHOENICOPTEROS RUBER.
[Plate LXVI.—Fig. 4. |

Le Flammant, Briss. VI, p. 533, pl. 47, fig. 4.—Burr. VII, p. 475, pl. 39. Pl. Enl. 63.—Laru.
Syn. III, p. 299.—-Arect. Zool. No. 422.—Caressy, I, pl. 73, 74.—PHALE’s Museum, No. 3545,

bird of the first year; No. 3546, bird of the second year.

THIS very singular species being occasionally seen on the
southern frontiers of the United States, and on the peninsula of
East Florida, where it is more common, has a claim to a niche in
our Ornithological Museum, altho the author regrets that from per-
sonal observation he can add nothing to the particulars of its his-
tory, already fully detailed in various European works. From the
most respectable of these, the Synopsis of Dr. Latham, he has col-
lected such particulars as appear authentic and interesting.

“This remarkable bird has the neck and legs in a greater dis-
proportion than any other bird, the length from the end of the bill
to that of the tail is four feet two or three inches, but to the end
of the claws measures sometimes more than six feet. The bill is
four inches and a quarter long, and of a construction different from
that of any other bird; the upper mandible very thin and flat, and
somewhat moveable; the under thick, both of them bending down-
wards from the middle; the nostrils are linear, and placed ina
blackish membrane; the end of the bill as far as the bend is black,
from thence to the base reddish yellow, round the base quite to the
eye covered with a flesh colored cere; the neck is slender, and of
a great length; the tongue large, fleshy, filling the cavity of the
bill, furnished with twelve or more hooked papillz on each side,
turning backwards; the tip a sharp cartilaginous substance. The

VOL. VOPR, M

<

46 | RED FLAMINGO.

bird when in full plumage is wholly of a most deep scarlet, (those
of Africa said to be the deepest) except the quills, which are black; —
from the base of the thigh to the claws measures thirty-two inches,
of which the feathered part takes up no more than three inches;
the bare part above the knee thirteen inches, and from thence to
the claws sixteen; the color of the bare parts is red, and the toes
are furnished with a web as in the Duck genus; but is deeply in-
dented. The legs are not straight, but slightly bent, the shin rather
projecting.

“These birds do not gain their full plumage till the third year.
In the first they are of a greyish white for the most part; the se-
cond of a clearer white, tinged with red, or rather rose color; but
the wings and scapulars are red; in the third year a general glow-
ing scarlet manifests itself throughout; the bill and legs also keep
pace with the gradation of color in the plumage, these parts
changing to their colors by degrees as the bird approaches to an
adult state.

‘“‘ Flamingoes prefer a warm climate, in the old continent not
often met with beyond forty degrees north or south. Every where
seen on the African coast, and adjacent isles, quite to the Cape of
Good Hope,* and now and then on the coasts of Spain,t Italy, and
those of France lying in the Mediterranean sea; being at times met
with at Marseilles, and for some way up the Rhone. In some sea-
sons frequents Aleppo,t and parts adjacent. Seen also on the Per-
sian side of the Caspian sea, and from thence along the western
coast as far as the Wolga; tho this at uncertain times, and chiefly
in considerable flocks, coming from the north coast mostly in Oc-
tober and November; but so soon as the wind changes they to-
tally disappear.|| ‘They breed in the Cape Verd isles, particularly
in that of Sal.{ The nest is of a singular construction, made of

* In Zee Coow river. Phil. Trans. Once plenty in the Isle of France. Voy. to Mauritius, p. 66.
} About Valencia, in the lake Albufere. Dillon’s Tray. p. 374.
+ Russel’s Aleppo, p. 69. } Decouv. Russ. ii, p. 248. q Damp. Voy. i, p. 70.

RED FLAMINGO. A7

mud, in shape of a hillock, with a cavity at top; in this the female
lays generally two white eggs,* of the size of those of a Goose, but
more elongated. ‘The hillock is of such an height as to admit of
the bird’s sitting on it conveniently, or rather standing, as the legs
are placed one on each side at full length.t ‘The young cannot fiy
till full grown, but run very fast.

‘¢ Flamingoes, for the most part, keep together in fiocks; and
now and then are seen in great numbers together, except in breed-
ing time. Dampier mentions having, with two more in company,
killed fourteen at once; but this was effected by secreting them-
selves; for they are very shy birds, and will by no means suffer
any one to approach openly near enough to shoot them.; Kolben
observes that they are very numerous at the Cape, keeping in the
day on the borders of the lakes and rivers, and lodging themselves
of nights in the long grass on the hills. They are also common
to various places in the warmer parts of America, frequenting the
same latitudes as in other quarters of the world; being met with
in Peru, Chili, Cayenne,|| and the coast of Brasil, as well as the
various islands of the West Indies. Sloane found them in Ja-
maica; but particularly at the Bahama islands, and that of Cuba,
where they breed. When seen at a distance they appear as a re-
giment of soldiers, being arranged alongside of one another, on
the borders of the rivers, searching for food, which chiefly consists
of small fish,? or the eggs of them, and of water insects, which
they search after by plunging in the bill and part of the head;
from time to time trampling with their feet to muddy the water,
that their prey may be raised from the bottom. In feeding are

said to twist the neck in such a manner that the upper part of the

* They never lay more than three, and seldom fewer. Phil. Trans.

+ Sometimes will lay the eggs on a projecting part of a low rock, if it be placed sufficiently con-
yenient so as to admit of the legs being placed one on each side. Linn.

+ Davies talks of the gunner disguising himself in an ox hide, and by this means getting within
gun-shot. Hist. Barbad. p. 88. |

{| Called there by the name of 'Tococo. q Small shell fish. Gesner.

48 RED FLAMINGO.

bill is applied to the ground;* during this one of them is said to
stand centinel, and the moment he sounds the alarm, the whole
flock take wing. This bird when at rest stands on one leg, the
other being drawn up close to the body, with the head placed
under the wing on that side of the body it stands on.
“ The flesh of these birds is esteemed pretty good meat; and
the young thought by some equal to that of a Partridge;+ but the
| greatest dainty is the tongue, which was esteemed by the ancients
an exquisite morsel. Are sometimes caught young and brought
up tame; but are ever impatient of cold, and in this state will sel- ©
dom live a great while, gradually losing their color, flesh and ap-
petite; and dying for want of that food which in a state of nature,
at large, they were abundantly supplied with.”

* Linneeus. Brisson.

t Commonly fat and accounted delicate. Davies’s Hist. Barbad. p. 88. The inhabitants of
Provence always throw away the flesh, as it tastes fishy, and only make use of the feathers as orna-
ments to other birds at particular entertainments. Dillon’s Tray. p. 374.

+ See Plin. IX, cap. 48.

LSPPLTRIP Ef. — PALEII FL ORR aE LL LEDPDI yf
4 ; f ee via

re = 5 en on oP
A 7 / ar tl ed PLN So, a

a —_

a

Wii
Ul

———s

AY

BLACK, OR SURF DUCK.
ANAS PERSPICILLATA.

[Plate LXVII—Fig. 1.]

Le grande Macreuse de la Baye de Hudson, Briss. VI, p. 425, 30.—La Macreuse a large bec, Burr.
IX, p. 244.—Pl. Enl. 995.—Epw. pl. 155.—Latu. Syn. WI, p. 4#79.—Phil. Trans. UXU, p. 447.

—PEALE’s Museum, No. 2788.

THIS Duck is peculiar to America, and altogether confined
to the shores and bays of the sea, particularly where the waves
roll over the sandy beach. Their food consists principally of
those small bivalve shell fish already described, spout fish, and
others that lie in the sand near its surface. For these they dive
almost constantly, both in the sandy bays and amidst the tumbling
surf. They seldom or never visit the salt marshes. ‘They con-
tinue on our shores during the winter; and leave us early in May
for their breeding places in the north. Their skins are remarka-
bly strong, and their flesh coarse, tasting of fish. They are shy
birds, not easily approached, and are common in winter along the
whole coast from the river St. Lawrence to Florida.

The length of this species is twenty inches, extent thirty-two
inches; the bill is yellowish red, elevated at the base, and marked
on the side of the upper mandible with a large square patch of
black, preceded by another space of a pearl color; the part of the
bill thus marked swells or projects considerably from the common
surface; the nostrils are large and pervious; the sides of the bill
broadly serrated or toothed; both mandibles are furnished with a
nail at the extremity; irides white, or very pale cream; whole
plumage a shining black, marked on the crown and hind head
with two triangular spaces of pure white; the plumage on both

VOL. VIItI. N

50 BLACK DUCK.

these spots is shorter and thinner than the rest; legs and feet
blood red; membrane of the webbed feet black; the primary quills
are of a deep dusky brown.

On dissection the gullet was found to be gradually enlarged
to the gizzard, which was altogether filled with broken shell fish.
There was a singular hard expansion at the commencement of the
windpipe; and another much larger about three quarters of an
inch above where it separates into the two lobes of the lungs; this
last was larger than a Spanish hazel nut, flat on one side and con-
vex on the other. The protuberance on each side of the bill
communicated with the nostril, and was hollow. All these were
probably intended to contain supplies of air for the bird’s support
while under water; the last may also protect the head from the
sharp edges of the shells.

The female is altogether of a sooty brown, lightest about the
neck; the prominences on the bill are scarcely observable and its
color dusky.

‘This species was also found by capt. Cooke at micenite Sound,
on the north-west coast of America.

51

BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK.
ANAS ALBEOLA.

[Plate LXVII.—Fig. 2, Male.—Fig. 3, Female. |

La Sareelle de la Louisiane, Briss. VI, p. 464, pl. 44, fig. 1.—Le petit Canard a grosse téte, Burr. IX,
p. 249.—Epw. pl. 100.—Arct. Zool. No. 487.—CaTessy, I, 95.—Laru. Syn. II, p. 533.—PEALE’s

eMusewm, No. 2730.

THIS pretty little species, usually known by the name of the
Butter-box, or Butter-ball, is common to the sea shores, rivers and
lakes of the United States, in every quarter of the country, during
autumn and winter. About the middle of April, or early in May,
they retire to the north to breed. They are dexterous divers, and
fly with extraordinary velocity. So early as the latter part of Fe-
bruary the males are observed to have violent disputes for the
females; at this time they are more commonly seen in flocks; but
during the preceding part of winter they usually fly in pairs. Their
note is a short guak. They feed much on shell fish, shrimps, &c.
They are:sometimes exceedingly fat ; tho their flesh is inferior to
many others for the table. The male exceeds the female in size,
and greatly in beauty of plumage.

The Buffel-headed Duck, or rather as it has originally been,
the Buffaloe-headed Duck, from the disproportionate size of its
head, is fourteen inches long, and twenty-three inches in extent;
the bill is short, and of a light blue or leaden color; the plumage
of the head and half of the neck is thick, long and velvetty, pro-
jecting greatly over the lower part of the neck; this plumage on
the forehead and nape is rich glossy green, changing into a shining
purple on the crown and sides of the neck; from the eyes back-

ward passes a broad band of pure white; iris of the eye dark;

2), | BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK.

back, wings and part of the scapulars black; rest of the scapulars,
lateral band along the wing, and whole breast, snowy white; belly,
vent, and tail coverts dusky white; tail pointed, and of a hoary
color.

The female is considerably less than the male, and entirely
destitute of the tumid plumage of the head; the head, neck and
upper parts of the body, and wings, are sooty black, darkest on
the crown; side of the head marked with a small oblong spot of
white; bill dusky; lower part of the neck ash, tipt with white;
belly dull white; vent cinereous; outer edges of six of the secon-
daries and their incumbent coverts white, except the tips of the
latter, which are black; legs and feet a livid blue; tail hoary
brown; length of the intestines three feet six inches; stomach
filled with small shell fish. This is the Spirit Duck of Pennant,
so called from its dexterity in diving (Arct. Zool. No. 487.), like-
wise the Little Brown Duck of Catesby (Nat. Hist. Car. pl. 98.).

This species is said to come into Hudson’s Bay about Severn
river in June, and make their nests in trees in the woods near
ponds.* The young males during the first year are almost ex-
actly like the females in color. |

* Latham.

58

CANADA GOOSE.
ANAS CANADENSIS.

[Plate LXVII.—Fig. 4. |

I? Oye sauvage de Canada, Briss. VI, p. 272, 4, pl. 26.—L’ Oie a cravate, Burr. IX, p. 82.—Epw. pl.
154.—Arct. Zool. No. 471.—CATESBY, I, pl. 92.—Latu. Syn. IIT, p. 25022 PraLes Museums.

No. 2704.

THIS is the common Wild Goose of the United States, uni-
versally known over the whole country; whose regular periodical
migrations are the sure signals of returning spring, or approach-
ing winter. The tracts of their vast migratory journies are not
confined to the sea coast or its vicinity. In their aerial voyages
to and from the north, these winged pilgrims pass over the inte-
rior on both sides of the mountains, as far west, at least, as the
Osage river, and I have never yet visited any quarter of the coun-
try where the inhabitants are not familiarly acquainted with the
regular passing and repassing of the Wild Geese. The general
opinion here is that they are on their way to the lakes to breed;
but the inhabitants on the confines of the great lakes that separate
us from Canada, are equally ignorant with ourselves of the parti-
cular breeding places of those birds. There their journey north is
but commencing, and how far it extends it is impossible for us at
present to ascertain, from our little acquaintance with these frozen
regions. They were seen by Hearne in large flocks within the
arctic circle, and were then pursuing their way still farther north.
Captain Phipps speaks of seeing Wild Geese feeding at the water’s
edge, on the dreary coast of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80° 27'. It is
highly probable that they extend their migrations under the very
pole itself, amid the silent desolation of unknown countries shut

VOL. VIII. O

54: CANADA GOOSE.

out since creation from the prying eye of man by everlasting and
insuperable barriers of ice. ‘That such places abound with their
suitable food we cannot for a moment doubt; while the absence of
their great destroyer man, and the splendors of a perpetual day,
may render such regions the most suitable for their purpose.
Having fulfilled the great law of nature, the approaching
rigors of that dreary climate oblige these vast congregated flocks
to steer for the more genial regions of the south. And no sooner
do they arrive at those countries of the earth inhabited by man,
than carnage and slaughter is commenced on their ranks. The’
English at Hudson’s Bay, says Pennant, depend greatly on geese,
and in favourable years kill three or four thousand, and barrel
them up for use. They send out their servants as well as Indians
to shoot these birds on their passage. It is in vain to pursue them;
they therefore form a row of huts, made of boughs, at musquet-
shot distance from each other, and place them in a line across the
vast marshes of the country. Each stand, or hovel, as they are
called, is occupied by only a single person. These attend the
flight of the birds, and on their approach mimic their cackle so
well, that the Geese will answer and wheel and come nearer the
stand. The sportsman keeps motionless, and on his knees with
his gun cocked the whole time, and never fires till he has seen the
eyes of the Geese. He fires as they are going from him, then
picks up another gun that lies by him and discharges that. The
Geese which he has killed he sets upon sticks, as if alive, to decoy
others; he also makes artificial birds for the same purpose. In a
good day, for they fly in very uncertain and unequal numbers, a
single Indian will kill two hundred. Notwithstanding every spe-
cies of Goose has a different call, yet the Indians are admirable in
their imitations of every one. The autumnal flight lasts from the
middle of August to the middle of October; those which are taken
in this season, when the frosts begin, are preserved in their fea-

thers, and left to be frozen for the fresh provisions of the winter

CANADA GOOSE. 55.

stock. The feathers constitute an article of commerce, and are
sent to England.

The vernal flight of the Geese lasts from the middle of April
until the middle of May. Their first appearance coincides with
the thawing of the swamps, when they are very lean. Their ar-
rival from the south is impatiently attended; it is the harbinger
of the spring, and the month named by the Indians the Goose
moon. They appear usually at their settlements about St. George’s
day, O. S. and fly northward to nestle in security. They prefer
islands to the continent, as farther from the haunts of man.*

After such prodigious havoc as thus appears to be made
among these birds, and their running the gauntlet, if I may so
speak, for many hundreds of miles through such destructive fires,
no wonder they should have become more scarce, as well as shy,
by the time they reach the shores of the United States.

Their first arrival on the coast of New Jersey is early in Oc-
tober, and their first numerous appearance is the sure prognostic
of severe weather. Those which continue all winter frequent the
shallow bays and marsh islands; their principal food being the
broad tender green leaves of a marine plant which grows on stones
and shells, and is usually called sea cabbage; and also the roots
of the sedge, which they are frequently observed in the act of tear-
ing up. Every few days they make an excursion to the inlets on
the beach for gravel. They cross, indiscriminately, over land or
water, generally taking the nearest course to their object; differ-
ing in this respect from the Brant, which will often go a great way
round by water rather than cross over the land. They swim well;
and if wing-broken, dive and go a great way under water, causing
the sportsman a great deal of fatigue before he can kill them.
Except in very calm weather they rarely sleep on the water, but
roost all night in the marshes. When the shallow bays are frozen,
they seek the mouths of inlets near the sea, occasionally visiting

* Aret. Zool.

56 . CANADA GOOSE.

the air holes in the ice; but these bays are seldom so completely
frozen as to prevent them from feeding on the bars.

The flight of the Wild Geese is heavy and laborious, gene-
rally in a straight line, or in two lines approximating to a point,
thus, > ; in both cases the van is led by an old gander, who every
now and then pipes his well known honk, as if to ask how they come
on, and the honk of “all’s well” is generally returned by some of
the party. Their course is in a straight line, with the exception
of the undulations of their flight. When bewildered in foggy
weather, they appear sometimes to be in great distress, flying
about in an irregular manner, and for a considerable time over the
same quarter, making a great clamour. On these occasions should
they approach the earth, and alight, which they sometimes do, to
rest and recollect themselves, the only hospitality they meet with
is death and destruction from a whole neighbourhood already in
arms for their ruin. .

Wounded Geese have, in numerous instances, been completely
domesticated, and readily pair with the tame Grey Geese. The
offspring are said to be larger than either; but the characteristic
marks of the Wild Goose still predominate. The gunners on the
sea shore have long been in the practice of taming the wounded
of both sexes, and have sometimes succeeded in getting them to
pair and produce. ‘The female always seeks out the most solitary
place for her nest, not far from the water. On the approach of
every spring, however, these birds discover symptoms of great un-
easiness, frequently looking up into the air, and attempting to go
off. Some whose wings have been closely cut, have travelled on
foot in a northern direction, and have been found at the distance of
several miles from home. They hail every flock that passes over-
head, and the salute is sure to be returned by the voyagers, who
are only prevented from alighting among them by the presence
and habitations of man. The gunners take one or two of these

domesticated Geese with them to those parts of the marshes over

CANADA GOOSE. | 57

which the wild ones are accustomed to fly; and concealing them-
selves within gun-shot, wait for a flight, which is no sooner per-
ceived by the decoy Geese, than they begin calling aloud, until the
whole flock approaches so near as to give them an opportunity of
discharging two and sometimes three loaded musquets among
it, by which great havoc is made.

The Wild Goose, when in good order, weighs from ten to
twelve, and sometimes fourteen pounds. They are sold in the
Philadelphia markets at from seventy-five cents to one dollar cach;
and are estimated to yield half a pound of feathers a piece, which
produces twenty-five or thirty cents more.

The Canada Goose is now domesticated in numerous quar-
ters of the country, and is remarked for being extremely watchful,
and more sensible of approaching changes in the atmosphere than
the common Grey Goose. In England, France, and Germany,
they have also been long ago domesticated. Buffon, in his account
of this bird, observes, “‘ within these few years many hundreds
inhabited the great canal at Versailles, where they breed familiarly
with the Swans; they were oftener on the grassy margins than in
the water;” and adds, “there is at present a great number of them
on the magnificent pools that decorate the charming gardens of
Chantilly.” Thus has America already added to the stock of do-
mestic fowls two species, the Turkey and the Canada Goose, su-
perior to most in size, and inferior to none in usefulness; for it is
acknowledged by an English naturalist of good observation, that
this last species “is as familiar, breeds as freely, and is in every
respect as valuable as the common Goose.”* |

The strong disposition of the wounded Wild Geese to mi-
grate to the north in spring, has been already taken notice of.
Instances have occurred where, their wounds having healed, they
have actually succeeded in mounting into the higher regions of the
air, and joined a passing party to the north; and, extraordinary

* Bewick, v. ii, p. 255.

VOL. VIII. P

58 CANADA GOOSE.

as it may appear, I am well assured by the testimony of several
respectable persons, who have been eye-witnesses to the fact, that
they have been also known to return again in the succeeding au-
tumn to their former habitation. These accounts are strongly
corroborated by a letter which I some time ago received from an
obliging correspondent at New York; which I shall here give at
large, permitting him to tell his story in his own way, and con-
clude my history of this species.

“Mr. Platt, a respectable farmer on Long island, being out
shooting in one of the bays which, in that part of the country,
abound with water-fowl, wounded a Wild Goose. Being wing-
tipped, and unable to fly, he caught it, and brought it home alive.
It proved to be a female; and turning it into his yard, with a flock
of tame Geese, it soon became quite tame and familiar, and in a
little time its wounded wing entirely healed. In the following
spring, when the Wild Geese migrate to the northward, a flock
passed over Mr. Platt’s barn yard; and just at that moment their
leader happening to sound his bugle-note, our Goose, in whom its
new habits and enjoyments had not quite extinguished the love of
liberty, and remembering the well known sound, spread its wings,
mounted into the air, joined the travellers, and soon disappeared.
In the succeeding autumn the Wild Geese (as was usual) returned
from the northward in great numbers, to pass the winter in our
bays and rivers. Mr. Platt happened to be standing in his yard
when a flock passed directly over his barn. At that instant, he
observed three Geese detach themselves from the rest, and after
wheeling round several times, alight in the middle of the yard.
Imagine his surprise and pleasure, when by certain well rémem-
bered signs, he recognized in one of the three his long-lost fugi-
tive. It was she indeed! She had travelled many hundred miles
to the lakes; had there hatched and reared her offspring; and had
now returned witb her little family, to share with them the sweets

of civilized life. -

CANADA GOOSE. | 59

“The truth of the foregoing relation can be attested by many

respectable people, to whom Mr. Platt has related the circum-
stances as above detailed. The birds were all living, and in his
possession, about a year ago, and had shewn no disposition what-
ever to leave him.” i:
The length of this species is three feet, extent five feet two
| inches; the bill is black; irides dark hazel; upper half of the neck
black, marked on the chin and lower part of the head with a large
patch of white, its distinguishing character; lower part of the neck
before white; back and wing coverts brown, each feather tipt with
whitish; rump and tail black; tail coverts and vent white; prima-
ries black, reaching to the extremity of the tail; sides pale ashy
brown; legs and feet blackish ash.

The male and female are exactly alike in plumage.

60

TUFTED DUCK.
ANAS FULIGULA.

[Plate LXVII.—Fig. 5. |

Arct. Zool. p. 573.—Le petit Morillon, Briss. VI, 414. 26. pl. 37. 4.—Burr. IX, p. 227. 234. pl. 45.—

_ Lara. Syn. II, p. 540.—Peate’s Museum, No. 2904.

THIS is an inhabitant of both continents; it frequents fresh
water rivers, and seldom visits the sea shore. It is a plump, short
bodied Duck; its flesh generally tender, and well tasted. They
are much rarer than most of our other species, and are seldom
seen in market. ‘They are most common about the beginning of
winter, and early in the spring. Being birds of passage they leave
us entirely during the summer.

The Tufted Duck is seventeen inches long, and two feet two
inches in extent; the bill is broad and of a dusky color, sometimes
marked round the nostrils and sides with light blue; head crested,
or tufted, as its name expresses, and of a black color, with reflec-
tions of purple; neck marked near its middle by a band of deep
chesnut; lower part of the neck black, which spreads quite round
to the back; back and scapulars black, minutely powdered with
particles of white, not to be observed but on a near inspection;
rump and vent also black; wings ashy brown; secondaries pale
ash or bluish white; tertials black, reflecting green; lower part of
the breast and whole belly white; flanks crossed with fine zig-zag
lines of dusky; tail short, rounded, and of a dull brownish black;
legs and feet greenish ash, webs black, irides rich orange; stomach
filled with gravel and some vegetable food.

In young birds the head and upper part of the neck are pur-
plish brown; in some the chesnut ring on the fore part of the

TUFTED DUCK. 61

middle of the neck is obscure, in others very rich and glossy, and
in one or two specimens which I have seen it is altogether want-
ing. The back is in some instances destitute of the fine powdered
particles of white; while in others these markings are large and
thickly interspersed.

The specimen from which the drawing was taken, was shot
on the Delaware on the tenth of March, and presented to me by
Dr. S. B. Smith of this city. On dissection it proved to be a male,
and was exceeding fat and tender. Almost every specimen I have
since met with has been in nearly the same state; so that I can-
not avoid thinking this species equal to most others for the table,
and greatly superior to many.

VOL. VIII. oy

62

GOLDEN EYE.
ANAS CLANGULA.
[Plate LXVII.—Fig. 6. ]

Le Garrat, Briss. VI, p. 446. 27. pl. 37. jis: 2.—Burr. IX, p. 222.—Arct. Zool. No. 486.—LATH.

) Syn. TH, p- 535.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 2921.

THIS Duck is well known in Europe, and in various regions
of the United States, both along the sea coast and about the lakes
and rivers of the interior. It associates in small parties, and may
easily be known by the vigorous whistling of its wings as it passes
through the air. It swims and dives well; but seldom walks on
shore, and then in a waddling awkward manner. Feeding chiefly
on shell fish, small fry, &c. their flesh is less esteemed than that
of the preceding. In the United States they are only winter visi-
tors, leaving us again in the month of April, being then on their
passage to the north to breed. They are said to build, like the
Wood Duck, in hollow trees.

The Golden-eye is nineteen inches long, and twenty-nine in
extent, and weighs on an average about two pounds; the bill is
black, short, rising considerably up in the forehead; the plumage
of the head and part of the neck is somewhat tumid, and of a dark
green with violet reflections, marked near the corner of the mouth
with an oval spot of white; the irides are golden yellow; rest of
the neck, breast, and whole lower parts white, except the flanks,
which are dusky; back and wings black; over the latter a broad
bed of white extends from the middle of the lesser coverts to the
extremity of the secondaries; the exterior scapulars are also white;
tail hoary brown; rump and tail coverts black; legs and toes red-

dish orange; webs very large, and of a dark purplish brown; hind

GOLDEN EYE. 63

toe and exterior edge of the inner one broadly finned; sides of the
bill obliquely dentated; tongue covered above with a fine thick
velvetty down of a whitish color.

The full plumaged female is seventeen inches in length, and
twenty-seven inches in extent; bill brown, orange near the tip;
head and part of the neck brown, or very dark drab, bounded
below by a ring of white; below that the neck is ash, tipt with
white; rest of the lower parts white; wings dusky, six of the se-
condaries and their greater coverts pure white, except the tips of
the last, which are touched with dusky spots; rest of the wing
coverts cinereous, mixed with whitish; back and scapulars dusky,
tipt with brown; feet dull orange; across the vent a band of cine-
reous; tongue covered with the same velvetty down as the male.

The young birds of the first season very much resemble the
females; but may generally be distinguished by the white spot, or
at least its rudiments, which marks the corner of the mouth. Yet,
in some cases, even this is variable, both old and young male birds
occasionally wanting the spot.

From an examination of many individuals of this species of
both sexes, I have very little doubt that the Morillon of English
writers (Anas glaucion) is nothing more than the young male of
the Golden-eye.

The conformation of the trachea, or windpipe of the male of
this species, is singular. Nearly about its middle it swells out to
at least five times its common diameter, the concentric hoops or -
rings, of which this part is formed, falling obliquely into one ano-
ther when the windpipe is relaxed; but when stretched, this part
swells out to its full size, the rings being then drawn apart; this
expansion extends for about three inches; three more below this
it again forms itself into a hard cartilaginous shell, of an irregular
figure, and nearly as large as a walnut; from the bottom of this
labyrinth, as it has been called, the trachea branches off to the
two lobes of the lungs; that branch which goes to the left lobe

64 GOLDEN EYE.

being three times the diameter of the right. The female has
nothing of all this. The intestines measure five feet in length,
and are large and thick.

I have examined many individuals of this species, of both
sexes and in various stages of color, and can therefore affirm,
with certainty, that the foregoing descriptions are correct. Eu-
ropeans have differed greatly in their accounts of this bird, from
finding males in the same garb as the females; and other full
plumaged males destitute of the spot of white on the cheek; but
all these individuals bear such evident marks of belonging to one
peculiar species, that no judicious naturalist, with all these varie-

ties before him, can long hesitate to pronounce them the same.

65

SHOVELLER.
ANAS CLYPEATA.
[Plate LXVII.—Fig. 7. |

Ee Souchet, Briss. VI, p. 329. 6. pl. 32. fig. 1.—Bure. 9. 191.—Pl. Enl. 971.—-Aret. Zool. No. 485.

—CATESR. I, pl. 96, female —Laru. Syn. TI, p. 509.—PEALE’s Miuseum, No. 2734.

IF we except the singularly formed and disproportionate size
of the bill, there are few Ducks more beautiful, or more elegantly
marked than this. The excellence of its flesh, which is uniformly
juicy, tender, and well tasted, is another recommendation to which
it is equally entitled. It occasionally visits the sea coast; but is
more commonly found on our lakes and rivers, particularly along
their muddy shores, where it spends great part of its time im
searching for small worms, and the larvee of insects, sifting the
watery mud through the long and finely set teeth of its curious
bill, which is admirably constructed for the purpose; being large,
to receive a considerable quantity of matter, each mandible bor-
dered with close-set, pectinated rows, exactly resembling those of
a weaver’s reed, which fitting into each other form a kind of sieve,
capable of retaining very minute worms, seeds, or insects, which
constitute the principal food of the bird.

The Shoveller visits us only in the winter, and is not known
to breed in any part of the United States. It is a common bird
of Europe, and, according to M. Baillon the correspondent of Buf-
fon, breeds yearly in the marshes in France. The female is said
to make her nest on the ground, with withered grass, in the midst
of the largest tufts of rushes or coarse herbage, in the most inac-
cessible part of the slaky marsh, and lays ten or twelve pale rust
colored eggs; the young, as soon as hatched, are conducted to the

VOL. VIII. R

66 SHOVELLER.

water by the parent birds. They are said to be at first very shape-
less and ugly, for the bill is then as broad as the body, and seems
too great a weight for the little bird to carry. Their plumage
does not acquire its full colors until after the second moult.

The Blue winged Shoveller is twenty inches long, and two
feet six inches in extent; the bill is brownish black, three inches
in length, greatly widened near the extremity, closely pectinated
on the sides, and furnished with a nail on the tip of each mandi-
ble; irides bright orange; tongue large and fleshy; the inside of
the upper and outside of the lower mandible are grooved so as to
receive distinctly the long separated reed-like teeth; there is also
a gibbosity in the two mandibles, which do not meet at the sides,
and this vacuity is occupied by the sifters just mentioned ; head
and upper half of the neck glossy, changeable green; rest of the
neck and breast white, passing round and nearly meeting above ;
whole belly dark reddish chesnut; flanks a brownish yellow, pen-
cilled transversely with black, between which and the vent, which
is black, is a band of white; back blackish brown, exterior edges
of the scapulars white; lesser wing coverts and some of the ter-
tials a fine light sky-blue; beauty spot on the wing a changeable
resplendent bronze green, bordered above by a band of white, and
below with another of velvetty black; rest of the wing dusky,
some of the tertials streaked down their middles with white ; tail
dusky, pointed, broadly edged with white; legs and feet reddish
orange, hind toe not finned.

With the above another was shot, which differed in having
the breast spotted with dusky, and the back with white; the green

plumage of the head intermixed with grey, and the belly with cir-
cular touches of. white ; evidently a young male in its imperfect
plumage.

The female has the crown of a dusky brown; rest of the
head and neck yellowish white, thickly spotted with dark brown ;
these spots on the breast become larger, and crescent-shaped ;

SHOVELLER. 67

back and scapulars dark brown, edged and centered with yellow
ochre; belly slightly rufous, mixed with white; wing nearly as in
the male.

On dissection the labyrinth in the windpipe of the male was
found to be small; the trachea itself seven inches long; the in-
testines nine feet nine inches in length, and about the thickness
of a crow quill.

68

GOOSAN DER.
MERGUS MERGANSER.

(Plate LXVIII—Fig. 1, Male. |

L’Harle, Briss. VI, p. 234. 4. pl. 22.—Burr. VIII, p. 267. pl. 23.—Arct. Zool. No. 465.—Larn. Syn.

Il, p. 448.—Pearte’s Museum, No. 2932.

THIS large and handsomely marked bird belongs to a genus
different from that of the Duck, on account of the particular form
and serratures of its bill. The genus is characterised as follows:
‘¢ Bill toothed, slender, cylindrical, hooked at the point; nostra/s
small, oval, placed in the middle of the bill; feet four toed, the
outer toe longest.” Naturalists have denominated it Merganser.
In this country the birds composing this genus are generally known
by the name of Fishermen, or Fisher ducks. The whole number
of known species amount to only nine or ten, dispersed through
various quarters of the world; of these, four species, of which the
present is the largest, are known to inhabit the United States.

From the common habit of these birds in feeding almost en-
tirely on fin and shell fish, their flesh is held in little estimation,
being often lean and rancid, both smelling and tasting strongly of
fish ; but such are the various peculiarities of tastes, that persons
are not wanting who pretend to consider them capital meat.

The Goosander, called by some the Water Pheasant, and by
others the Sheldrake, Fisherman, Diver, &c. is a winter inhabitant
only, of the sea shores, fresh water lakes, and rivers of the United
States. ‘They usually associate in small parties of six or eight, and
are almost continually diving in search of food. In the month
of April they disappear, and return again early in November. Of
their particular place and manner of breeding we have no ac-

iH

lis

a

xy

ar > 7
Me ipars
ell

a
vis

a)
; Crugprezeinn” Age x ee

GOOSANDER. 69

count. Mr. Pennant observes that they continue the whole year
in the Orknies; and have been shot in the Hebrides, or Western
islands of Scotland in summer. They are also found in Iceland,
and Greenland, and are said to breed there; some asserting that
they build on trees; others that they make their nests among the
rocks. | |

The male of this species is twenty-six inches in length, and
three feet three inches in extent, the bill three inches long, and
nearly one inch thick at the base, serrated on both mandibles ;
the upper overhanging at the tip, where each is furnished with a
large nail; the ridge of the bill is black, the sides crimson red ;
irides red; head crested, tumid, and of a black color glossed with
green, which extends nearly half way down the neck, the rest of
which, with the breast and belly, are white tinged with a delicate
yellowish cream; back and adjoining scapulars black ; primaries
and shoulder of the wing brownish black; exterior part of the
scapulars, lesser coverts, and tertials, white; secondaries neatly
edged with black, greater coverts white, their upper halves black,
forming a bar on the wing, rest of the upper parts and tail brown-
ish ash; legs and feet the color of red sealing wax; flanks marked
with fine semicircular dotted lines of deep brown; the tail extends
about three inches beyond the wings.

This description was taken from a full plumaged male. The
young males, which are generally much more numerous than the
old ones, so exactly resemble the females in their plumage for at
least the first, and part of the second year, as scarcely to be dis-
tinguished from them; and what is somewhat singular, the crests
of these and of the females are actually longer than those of the
full grown male, though thinner towards its extremities. These
circumstances have induced some late Ornithologists to consider
them as two different species, the young, or female, having been
called the Dun Diver. By this arrangement they have entirely
deprived the Goosander of his female; for in the whole of my

VOL. VIII. S

70 GOOSANDER.

examinations and dissections of the present species, I have never
yet found the female in /is dress. What I consider as undoubt-
edly the true female of this species is figured beside him. They
were both shot in the month of April, in the same creek, unac-
companied by any other, and on examination the sexual parts of
each were strongly and prominently marked. The windpipe of
the female had nothing remarkable in it; that of the male had
two very large expansions, which have been briefly described by
Willoughby, who says: “It hath a large bony labyrinth on the
windpipe, just above the divarications; and the windpipe hath
besides two swellings out, one above another, each resembling a
powder puff.” ‘These labyrinths are the distinguishing characters
of the males; and are always found even in young males who
have not yet thrown off the plumage of the female, as well as in
the old ones. If we admit these Dun divers to be a distinct spe-
cies, we can find no difference between their pretended females
and those of the Goosander, only one kind of female of this sort
being known, and this is contrary to the usual analogy of the other
three species, vzz. the Red breasted Merganser, the Hooded and the
Smew, all of whose females are well known, and bear the same
comparative resemblance in color to their respective males, the
length of crest excepted, as the female Goosander we have figured
bears to him. |

Having thought thus much necessary on this disputed point,
I leave each to form his own opinion on the facts and reasoning
produced, and proceed to describe the female.

71

FEMALE GOOSANDER.
[Plate LXVIII.—Fig. 2. |

Peae’s Museum, No. 2933.—Dun Diver, Lar. Syn. I, p. 420.—Arct. Zool. N’o. 465.—BEwicn’s
Brit. Birds, II, p. 23.—Turr. Syst. p. 335.—L’Harle femelle, Briss. VI, p. 236.—Burr. VII, p.

272.— Pl. Enl. 953.

THIS generally measures an inch or two shorter than the
male; the length of the present specimen was twenty five inches,
extent thirty five inches; bill crimson on the sides, black above;
irides reddish; crested head and part of the neck dark brown,
lightest on the sides of the neck, where it inclines to a sorrel
color; chin and throat white; the crest shoots out in long radiating
flexible stripes; upper part of the body, tail, and flanks an ashy
slate, tinged with brown; primaries black; middle secondaries
white, forming a large speculum on the wing; greater coverts
black, tipt for half an inch with white; sides of the breast, from
the sorrel colored part of the neck downwards, very pale ash,
with broad semicircular touches of white; belly and lower part
of the breast a fine yellowish cream color, a distinguishing trait
also in the male; legs and feet orange red.

72

PINTAIL DUCK.
ANAS ACUTA.

[Plate LXVIIL—Fig. 3.]

Le Canard @ longue queue, Bris. VI, p. 369. 16. pl. 34. fig. 4, 2.—Burr. IX, p. 199. pl. 13.—Pl. Enl.

954.—Arct. Zool. No. 500.—Laru. Syn. II, p. 526.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 2806.

THE Pintail, or as it is sometimes called, the Sprigtail, 1s a
common and well known duck in our markets, much esteemed for
the excellence of its flesh, and is generally in good order. It is
a shy and cautious bird, feeds in the mud flats, and shallow fresh
water marshes; but rarely resides on the sea coast. It seldom
dives, is very noisy, and has a kind of chattering note. When
wounded they will sometimes dive, and coming up conceal them-
selves under the bow of the boat, moving round as it moves. Are
vigilant in giving the alarm on the approach of the gunner, who
often curses the watchfulness of the sprigtail. Some ducks when
aroused disperse in different directions ; but the Sprigtails when
alarmed cluster confusedly together as they mount, and thereby
afford the sportsman a fair opportunity of raking them with ad-
vantage. They generally leave the Delaware about the middle
of March, on the way to their native regions the north, where
they are most numerous. They inhabit the whole northern parts
of Europe and Asia, and doubtless the corresponding latitudes of
America. Are said likewise to be found in Italy. Great flocks
of them are sometimes spread along the isles and shores of Scot-
land and Ireland, and on the interior lakes of both these countries.
On the marshy shores of some of the bays of Lake Ontario they
are often plenty in the months of October and November. I have

also met with them at Louisville on the Ohio.

PINTAIL DUCK. 73

The Pintail Duck is twenty six inches in length, and two feet
ten inches in extent; the bill is a dusky lead color; irides dark
hazel; head and half of the neck pale brown, each side of the
neck marked with a band of purple violet, bordering the white,
hind part of the upper half of the neck black, bordered on each
side by a stripe of white, which spreads over the lower part of the
neck before; sides of the breast and upper part of the back white
thickly and elegantly marked with transverse undulating lines of
black, here and there tinged with pale buff; throat and middle of
the belly white tinged with cream; flanks finely pencilled with
waving lines, vent white, under tail coverts black; lesser wing
coverts brown ash, greater the same, tipt with orange, below
which is the speculum or beauty spot of rich golden green bor-
dered below with a band of black, and another of white; prima-
ries dusky brown; tertials long, black, edged with white, and
tinged with rust; rump and tail coverts pale ash centered with
dark brown; tail greatly pointed, the two middle tapering fea-
thers being full five inches longer than the others and black, the
rest brown ash edged with white; legs a pale lead color.

The female has the crown of a dark brown color; neck of a
dull brownish white, thickly speckled with dark brown; breast
and belly pale brownish white, interspersed with white; back and
root of the neck above black, each feather elegantly waved with
broad lines of brownish white, these wavings become rufous on
the scapulars; vent white, spotted with dark brown; tail dark
brown spotted with white; the two middle tail feathers half an

inch longer than the others. |
| The Sprigtail is an elegantly formed, long bodied Duck, the
neck longer and more slender than most others.

VOL. VIII, tT

74:

BLUE-WINGED TEAL.
ANAS DISCORS.

[Plate LXVIIL—Fig. 4. |

Le Sarcelle @ Amerique, Briss. VI, p. 452. 35.—Burr. IX, p. 279.—Pl. Enl. 966.—Carusr. I, pl. 100.

—White faced Duck, Larn. Syn. IW, p. 502.—Arct. Zool. No. 503.—PEatn’s Museum, No. 2846.

THE Blue winged Teal is the first of its tribe that returns
to us in the autumn from its breeding place in the north. They
are usually seen early in September, along the shores of the Dela-
ware, where they sit on the mud close to the edge of the water,
so crowded together that the gunners often kill great numbers at
a single discharge. When a flock is discovered thus sitting and
sunning themselves, the experienced gunner runs his batteau
ashore at some distance below or above them, and getting out,
pushes her before him over the slippery mud, concealing himself
all the while behind her; by this method he can sometimes ap-
proach within twenty yards of the flock, among which he gene-
rally makes great slaughter. They fly rapidly, and when they
alight drop down suddenly like the Snipe or Woodcock, among
the reeds or on the mud. They feed chiefly on vegetable food,
and are eagerly fond of the seeds of the reeds or wild oats. Their
flesh is excellent; and after their residence for a short time among
the reeds, becomes very fat. As the first frosts come on, they
proceed to the south, being a delicate bird, very susceptible of -
cold. They abound in the inundated rice fields in the southern
states, where vast numbers are taken in traps placed on small dry
eminences that here and there rise above the water. These places
are strewed with rice, and by the common contrivance called a

figure four, they are caught alive in hollow traps. In the month

BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 795

of April they pass through Pennsylvania for the north; but make
little stay at that season. I have observed them numerous on the
Hudson opposite to the Katskill mountains. ‘hey rarely visit
the sea shore. | | |

This species measures about fourteen inches in length, and
twenty two inches in extent; the bill is long in proportion, and
of a dark dusky slate; the front and upper part of the head are
black, from the eye to the chin is a large crescent of white, the °
rest of the head and half the neck is of a dark slate richly glossed
with green and violet, remainder of the neck and breast is black
or dusky, thickly marked with semicircles of brownish white, ele-
gantly intersecting each other; belly pale brown, barred with
dusky, in narrow lines; sides and vent the same tint, spotted with
oval marks of dusky; flanks elegantly waved with large semicir-
cles of pale brown; sides of the vent pure white; under tail co-
verts black; back deep brownish black, each feather waved with
large semi-ovals of brownish white; lesser wing coverts a bright
light blue; primaries dusky brown; secondaries black; speculum
or beauty spot, rich green, tertials edged with black or light blue,
and streaked down their middle with white; the tail, which is
pointed, extends two inches beyond the wings; legs and feet yel-
low, the latter very small; the two crescents of white before the
eyes meet on the throat. |

The female differs in having the head and neck of a dull
dusky slate instead of the rich violet of the male, the hind head
is also whitish. ‘lhe wavings on the back and lower parts more
indistinct ; wing nearly the same in both.

76

SNOW GOOSE.
ANAS HYPERBOREA.

[Plate LXVITI.—Fig. 5, Male.) .

L’ Oye de Neige, Briss. VI, p. 288. 10.—White Brant, Lawson’s Carolina, p. 157.—Arct. Zool. No.

477.—Phil. Trans./62 p. 443.—Laru. Syn. Il, p. 445.—PrAtn’s Museum, No. 2635.

THIS bird is particularly deserving of the further investiga-
tion of naturalists; for, if I do not greatly mistake, English wri-
ters have, from the various appearances which this species as-
sumes in its progress to perfect plumage, formed no less than
four different kinds, which they describe as so many distinct spe-
cles, viz. the Snow Goose, the White fronted or Laughing Goose,
the Bean Goose, and the Blue winged Goose ; all of which, I have
little doubt, will hereafter be found to be nothing more than per-
fect and imperfect individuals, male and female of the Snow
Goose, now before us.

This species, called on the sea coast the Red Goose, arrives
in the river Delaware from the north, early in November, some-
times in considerable flocks, and is extremely noisy, their notes
being shriller and more squeaking than those of the Canada, or
Common Wild Goose. On their first arrival they make but a
short stay, proceeding, as the depth of winter approaches, farther
to the south; but from the middle of February until the breaking
up of the ice in March, they are frequently numerous along both
shores of the Delaware, about and below Reedy Island, particu-
larly near Old Duck Creek, in the state of Delaware. They feed
on the roots of the reeds there, tearing them up from the marshes
like hogs. ‘Their flesh, like most others of their tribe that feed
on vegetables, is excellent. |

SNOW GOOSE. 77

The Snow Goose is two feet eight inches in length, and five
feet in extent; the bill is three inches in length, remarkably thick
at the base, and rising high in the forehead; but becomes small
and compressed at the extremity, where each mandible is furnish-
ed with a whitish rounding nail; the color of the bill is a purplish
carmine ; the edges of the two mandibles separate from each other
in a singular manner for their whole length, and this gibbosity is
occupied by dentated rows resembling teeth, these and the parts
adjoining being of a blackish colour; the whole plumage is of a
snowy whiteness, with the exception, first of the fore part of the
head all round as far as the eyes, which is of a yellowish rust
color intermixed with white, and second, the nine exterior quill
feathers, which are black shafted with white, and white at the
root, the coverts of these last, and also the bastard wing, is some-
times of a pale ash color; the legs and feet of the same purplish
carmine as the bill; iris dark hazel; the tail is rounded, and con-
sists of sixteen feathers; that and the wings when shut, nearly of
a length. }

The bill of this bird is singularly curious; the edges of the
upper and lower gibbosities have each twenty three indentations,
or strong teeth on each side; the inside or concavity of the upper
mandible has also seven lateral rows of strong projecting teeth ;
and the tongue, which is horny at the extremity, is armed on each
side with thirteen long and sharp bony teeth, placed like those of
a saw with their points directed backwards; the tongue, turned
up and viewed on its lower side, looks very much like a human
finger with its nail. ‘This conformation of the mandibles, expos-
ing two rows of strong teeth, has probably given rise to the epi-
thet Laughing, bestowed on one of its varieties; though it might
with as much propriety have been named the Grinning Goose.

The specimen from which the above figure and description
were taken, was shot on the Delaware, below Philadelphia, on the
fifteenth of February; and on dissection proved to be a male; the

VOL. VIII. U

78 SNOW GOOSE.

windpipe had no labyrinth, but for an inch or two before its diva-
rication into the lungs, was inflexible, not extensile like the rest,
and rather wider in diameter. ‘The gullet had an expansion be-
fore entering the stomach; which last was remarkably strong, the
two great grinding muscles being nearly five inches in diameter.
The stomach was filled with fragments of the roots of reeds, and
fine sand. The intestines measured eight feet in length, and were
not remarkably thick. The liver was small. For the young and
female of this species, see Plate lxix, fig. 5.

Latham observes that this species is very numerous at Hud-
son’s Bay; that they visit Severn river in May, and stay a fort-
night, but go farther north to breed; they return to Severn Fort
the beginning of September, and stay till the middle of October,
when they depart for the south, and are observed to be attended
by their young in flocks innumerable. ‘They seem to occupy also
the Western side of America, as they were seen at Aoonalashka*
as well as at Kamtschatka.t White Brant with black tips to their
wings, were also shot by captains Lewis and Clark’s exploring
party, near the mouth of the Columbia river, which were proba-
bly the same as the present species.t Mr. Pennant says ‘they
are taken by the Siberians in nets, under which they are decoyed
by a person covered with a white skin, and crawling on all-fours;
when others driving them, these stupid birds mistaking him for
their leader, follow him, when they are entangled in the nets, or
led into a kind of pound made for the purpose!” We might here
with propriety add—Zhis wants confirmation.

* Evuis’s Narr. + Hist. Kamtsch. t+ Gass’s Journal, p. 161.

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79

HOODED MERGANSER.
MERGUS CUCULLATUS.

[Plate LXIX.—Fig. 1.]

L’Harle hupé de Virginie, Briss. VI, p. 258. 8.— Pl. Enl. 935.—I’ Harle couronné, Bure. VIL, 7. 280.
—Round crested Duck, Epw. pl. 360.—Caress. I, pl. 9%.—Arct. Zool. No. 467.—Latu. Syn. 10.

p. 426.—PeaLe’s Museum, No. 2930.

THIS species on the sea coast is usually called the Mazry
head. They are more common however along our lakes and fresh
water rivers than near the sea; tracing up creeks, and visiting
mill ponds, diving perpetually for their food. In the creeks and
rivers of the southern states they are very frequently seen during
the winter. Like the Red breasted they are migratory, the man-
ners, food, and places of resort of both being very much alike.

The Hooded Merganser is eighteen inches in length, and two
feet in extent; bill blackish red, narrow, thickly toothed, and fur-
nished with a projecting nail at the extremity; the head is orna-
mented with a large circular crest, which the bird has the faculty
of raising or depressing at pleasure ; the fore part of this, as far
as the eye, is black, thence to the hind head white and elegantly
tipt with black; it is composed of two separate rows of feathers,
radiating from each side of the head, and which may be easily di-
vided by the hand; irides golden; eye very small; neck black,
which spreads to and over the back; part of the lesser wing co-
verts very pale ash, under which the greater coverts and seconda-
ries form four alternate bars of black and white, tertials long,
black, and streaked down the middle with white; the black on
the back curves handsomely round in two points on the breast,

which, with the whole lower parts are pure white; sides under

80 HOODED MERGANSER.

the wings and flanks reddish brown, beautifully crossed with pa-
rallel lines of black; tail pointed, consisting of twenty feathers
of a sooty brown; legs and feet flesh colored; claws large and
stout. The windpipe has a small labyrinth. |

The female is rather less, the crest smaller and of a light rust
or dull ferruginous color, entirely destitute of the white; the up-
per half of the neck a dull drab, with semicircles of lighter, the
white on the wings is the same as in the male; but the tertials
are shorter and have less white; the back is blackish brown; the
rest of the plumage corresponds very nearly with the male.

This species is peculiar to America; is said to arrive at Hud-
son’s Bay about the end of May; builds close to the lakes; the
nest is composed of grass lined with feathers from the breast; is
said to lay six white eggs. The young are yellow, and fit to fly
in July.*

- * Hurcnins, as quoted by Latham.

81

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.
MERGUS SERRATOR.
[Plate LXIX.—Fig. 2. |

I’ Harle huppé, Briss. V1, p. 237. 2. pl. 23.—Burr. VIII, p. 273.—Pl. Enl. 207.—Buwicr, HU, p. 255.

Epw. pl. 95.—Latu. Syn. II, p. 432.—Pratn’s Museum, No. 2936.

THIS is much more common in our fresh waters than either
of the preceding, and is frequently brought to the Philadelphia
market from the shores of the Delaware. It is an inhabitant of
both continents. In the United States it is generally migratory;
though a few are occasionally seen in autumn, but none of their
nests have as yet come under my notice. ‘They also frequent the
sea shore, keeping within the bays and estuaries of rivers. ‘They
swim low in the water, and when wounded in the wing, very dex-
terously contrive to elude the sportsman or his dog, by diving and
coming up at a great distance, raising the bill only, above water,
and dipping down again with the greatest silence. The young
males of a year old are often found in the plumage of the female;
their food consists of small fry, and various kinds of shell fish.

The Red-breasted Merganser is said by Pennant to breed on
Loch Mari in the county of Ross, in North Britain; and also in
the isle of ay. Latham informs us that it inhabits most parts of
the north of Europe on the continent, and as high as Iceland; also
in the Russian dominions about the great rivers of Siberia, and the
lake Baikal. Is said to be frequent in Greenland, where it breeds
on the shores. The inhabitants often take it by darts thrown at
it, especially in August, being then in moult. At Hudson’s Bay,
according to Hutchins, they come in pairs about the beginning of
June, as soon as the ice breaks up, and build soon after their ar-

VOL. VIII. xX

g9 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.

rival, chiefly on dry spots of ground in the islands; lay from eight
to thirteen white eggs, the size of those of a duck; the nest is
made of withered grass, and lined with the down of the breast.
The young are of a dirty brown like young goslins. In October
they all depart southward to the lakes, where they may have open
water.

This species is twenty two inches in length, and thirty two in
extent; the bill is two inches and three quarters in length, of the
color of bright sealing wax, ridged above with dusky; the nail
at the tip large, blackish, and overhanging; both mandibles are
thickly serrated; irides red; head furnished with a long hairy
crest which is often pendent, but occasionally erected, as repre-
sented in the plate; this and part of the neck is black glossed with
green; the neck under this for two or three inches is pure white ;
ending in a broad space of reddish ochre spotted with black, which
spreads over the lower part of the neck and sides of the breast;
shoulders, back, and tertials deep velvetty black, the first marked
with a number of singular roundish spots of white; scapulars white;
wing coverts mostly white, crossed by two narrow bands of black;
primaries black, secondaries white, several of the latter edged
with black; lower part of the back, the rump and tail coverts
grey speckled with black; sides under the wings elegantly crossed
with numerous waving lines of black; belly and vent white; legs
and feet red; the tail dusky ash; the black of the back passes up
the hind neck in a narrow band to the head.

The female is twenty one inches in length, and thirty in ex-
tent; the crested head and part of the neck are of a dull sorrel
color; irides yellow; legs and bill red, upper parts dusky slate ;
wings black, greater coverts largely tipt with white, secondaries
nearly all white; sides of the breast slightly dusky ; whole lower
parts pure white; the tail is of a lighter slate than the back. The
crést is much shorter than in the male, and sometimes there is a
slight tinge of ferruginous on the breast.

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 83

The windpipe of the male of this species is very curious, and
differs something from that of the Goosander. About two inches
from the mouth it swells out to four times its common diameter,
continuing of that size for about an inch and a half. This swell-
ing is capable of being shortened or extended; it then continues of
its first diameter for two inches or more, when it becomes flattish,
and almost transparent for other two inches; it then swells into a
bony labyrinth of more than two inches in length by one and a
half in width, over the hollow sides of which is spread a yellowish
skin like parchment. The left side of this, fronting the back of
the bird, is a hard bone. ‘The divarications come cut very regu-
larly from this at the lower end, and enter the lungs.

The intention of Nature in this extraordinary structure is
probably to enable the bird to take down a supply of air to sup-
port respiration while diving; yet why should the female, who
takes the same submarine excursions as the male, be entirely des-

titute of this apparatus:

84.

SCAUP DUCK.
ANAS MARILA.

[Plate LXIX.—Fig. 3.]

Le petit Morillon rayé, Briss. VI, p. 446. 26. A.—Arct. Zool. No. 498.—Latu. Syn. TT, p. 500.—

PEALE’s Miusewm, No. 2668.

THIS Duck is better known among us by the name of
the Blue Bill, It is an excellent diver; and according to Wil-
loughby feeds on a certain small kind of shell fish called Scaup, —
whence it has derived its name. It is common both to our fresh
water rivers and sea shores in winter. Those that frequent the
latter are generally much the fattest, on account of the greater
_ abundance of food along the coast. It is sometimes abundant in
_ the Delaware, particularly in those places where small snails, its
favorite shell fish abound; feeding also, like most of its tribe, by
moonlight. ‘hey generally leave us in April, tho I have met with
individuals of this species so late as the middle of May, among the
salt marshes of New Jersey. Their flesh is not of the most deli-
cate kind, yet some persons esteem it. That of the young birds
is generally the tenderest and most palatable.

The length of the Blue Bill is nineteen inches, extent twenty
nine inches; bill broad, generally of a light blue, sometimes of a
dusky lead color; irides reddish; head tumid, covered with plu-
mage of a dark glossy green, extending half way down the neck ;
rest of the neck and breast black, spreading round to the back;
back and scapulars white, thickly crossed with waving lines of
black; lesser coverts dusky, powdered with veins of whitish, pri-
maries and tertials. brownish black; secondaries white, tipt with

black, forming the speculum; rump and tail coverts black; tail

S

SCAUP DUCK. 85

short, rounded, and of a dusky brown; belly white, crossed near
the vent with waving lines of ash; vent black; legs and feet dark
slate. |

Such is the color of the bird in its perfect state. Young birds
vary considerably, some having the head black mixed with grey
and purple, others the back dusky with little or no white, and that
irregularly dispersed. |

The female has the front and sides of the same white, head
and half of the neck blackish brown; breast, spreading round to
the back, a dark sooty brown, broadly skirted with whitish; back
black thinly sprinkled with grains of white, vent whitish; wings
the same as in the male. |

The windpipe of the male of this species is of large diame-
ter; the labyrinth similar to some others, though not of the largest
kind; it has something of the shape of a single cockle shell; its
open side or circular rim, covered with a thin transparent skin.
Just before the windpipe enters this, it lessens its diameter at least
two thirds, and assumes a flattish form.

The Scaup Duck is well known in England. It inhabits Ice-
land and the more northern parts of the continent of Europe, Lap-
land, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It is also common on the
northern shores of Siberia. Is very frequent on the river Ob.
Breeds in the north, and migrates southward in winter. It in-
habits America as high as Hudson’s Bay, and retires from this
last place in October.*

* Latham.

VOL. VIII. B4

86.

AMERICAN WIDGEON.
ANAS AMERICANA.

Le Canard Jensen, Pl. Ent. 955.—Borr. IX, p. 474.—Aret. Zool. No. 502.—Latu. Syn. TH, p. 520.

—PEALE’s Museum, N'o. 2798.

THIS is a handsomely marked and sprightly species, very
common in winter along our whole coast, from Florida to Rhode
Island; but most abundant in Carolina, where it frequents the rice
plantations. In Martinico great flocks take short flights from one
rice field to another during the rainy season, and are much com-
plained of by the planters. The Widgeon is the constant atten-
dant of the celebrated Canvass back Duck, so abundant in various
parts of the Chesapeake Bay, by the aid of whose labour he has
ingenuity enough to contrive to make a good subsistence. The
Widgeon is extremely fond of the tender roots of that particular
species of aquatic plant on which the Canvass back feeds, and for
which that duck is in the constant habit of diving. ‘The Wid-
geon, who never dives, watches the moment of the Canvass back’s
rising, and before he has his eyes well opened, snatches the deli-
cious morsel from his mouth and makes off. On this account the
Canvass backs and Widgeons, or as they are called round the bay,
Bald pates, live in a state of perpetual contention. The only
chance the latter have is to retreat, and make their approaches at
convenient opportunities. They are said to be in great plenty at
St. Domingo and Cayenne, where they are called Vingeon, or Gin-
geon. Are said sometimes to perch on trees. Feed in company
and have a centinel on the watch, like some other birds. They

feed little during the day; but in the evenings come out from their

AMERICAN WIDGEON. 87

hiding places, and are then easily traced by their particular whis-
tle or whew whew. This soft note or whistle is frequently imitated
with success, to entice them within gunshot. They are not known
to breed in any part of the United States. Are common in the
winter months along the bays of Egg Harbour and Cape May, and
also those of the Delaware. They leave these places in April, and
appear upon the coasts of Hudson’s Bay in May, as soon as the
thaws come on, chiefly in pairs; lay there only from six to eight
eggs; and feed on flies and worms in the swamps; depart in flocks
in autumn.”

These birds are frequently brought to the market of Balti-
more, and generally bring a good price, their flesh being excellent.
They are of a lively frolicksome disposition, and with pr ope at-
tention might easily be domesticated.

The Widgeon or Bald pate measures twenty two inches in
length, and thirty inches in extent, the bill is of a slate color, the
nail black; the front and crown cream colored, sometimes nearly
white, the feathers inflated; from the eye backwards to the mid-
dle of the neck behind, extends a band of deep glossy green gold |
and purple; throat, chin, and sides of the neck before, as far as
the green extends, dull yellowish white, thickly speckled with
black; breast and hind part of the neck hoary bay, running in
under the wings, where it is crossed with fine waving lines of
black, whole belly white; vent black; back and scapulars black,
thickly and beautifully crossed with undulating lines of vinous
bay; lower part of the back more dusky; tail coverts long, point-
ed, whitish, crossed as the back; tail pointed, brownish ash, the
two middle feathers an inch longer than the rest, and tapering ;
shoulder of the wing brownish ash, wing coverts immediately be-
low white, forming a large spot; primaries brownish ash, middle

secondaries black glossed with green, forming the speculum; ter-

* Putchins.

88 AMERICAN WIDGEON.

tials black edged with white, between which and the beauty spot
several of the secondaries are white.

The female has the whole head and neck yellowish white, »
thickly speckled with black, very little rufous on the breast; the
back is dark brown. ‘The young males, as usual, very much like
the females during the first season, and do not receive their full
plumage until the second year. They are also subject to a regu-
lar change every spring and autumn.

89

YOUNG OF THE SNOW GOOSE.
ANAS HYPERBOREA.
[Plate LXIX.—Fig. 5.]

Bean Goose? Latu. Syn. WI, p. 464.—While fronted Goose? Thid. I, p. 463.—Arct. Zool. No. 476;

Blue winged Goose? Laru, Syn, Il, p. 469.—Peatn’s Musewm, No. 2636. |

THE full plumaged perfect male bird of this species has al-
ready been figured in the preceding plate, and I now hazard a
conjecture, founded on the best examination I could make of the
young bird here figured, comparing it with the descriptions of the
different accounts above referred to, that the whole of them have
been taken from the various individuals of the present, in a greater
or lesser degree of approach to its true and perfect colors.
These birds pass along our coasts, and settle in our rivers,
every autumn; among thirty or forty there are seldom more than
six or eight pure white, or old birds. The rest vary so much that
no two are exactly alike; yet all bear the most evident marks in
the particular structure of their bills, &c. of being the same iden-
tical species. A gradual change so great, as from a bird of this
color to one of pure white, must necessarily produce a number of
varieties, or differences in the appearance of the plumage, but the
form of the bill and legs remain the same, and any peculiarity in
either is the surest mean we have to detect a species under all its
varlous appearances. It is therefore to be regretted, that the au-
thors above referred to in the synonyms, have paid so little atten-
tion to the singular conformation of the bill; for even in their
description of the Snow Goose, neither that nor the internal pecu-
liarities, are at all mentioned.

VOL. VIII. | Z

90 YOUNG OF THE SNOW GOOSE.

The length of the bird represented in our plate, was twenty
eight inches, extent four feet eight inches; bill gibbous at the
sides both above and below, exposing the teeth of the upper and
lower mandibles, and furnished with a nail at the tip on both;
the whole being of a light reddish purple or pale lake, except
the gibbosity, which is black, and the two nails, which are of a
pale light blue; nostril pervious, an oblong slit, placed nearly in
the middle of the upper mandible; irides dark brown; whole head
and half of the neck white; rest of the neck and breast, as well as
upper part of the back, of a purplish brown, darkest where it joins
the white; all the feathers being finely tipt with pale brown; whole
wing coverts very pale ash, or light lead color, primaries and se-
condaries black; tertials long, tapering, centered with black, edged
with light blue, and usually fall over the wing; scapulars cinere-
ous brown; lower parts of the back and rump of the same light
ash as the wing coverts; tail rounded, blackish, consisting of six-
teen feathers edged and tipt broadly with white; tail coverts white;
belly and vent whitish, intermixed with cinereous; feet and legs of
the same lake color as the bill.

‘This specimen was a female; the tongue was thick and fleshy,
armed on each side with thirteen strong bony teeth, exactly simi-
lar in appearance as well as in number, to those on the tongue of
the Snow Goose; the inner concavity of the upper mandible was
also studded with rows of teeth. The stomach was extremely
muscular, filled with some vegetable matter, and clear gravel.

With this another was shot, differing considerably in its mark-
ings, having little or no white on the head, and being smaller; its
general color dark brown intermixed with pale ash, and darker

below, but evidently of the same species with the other.

~—«Oof

PIED DUCK.
ANAS LABRADORA.
[Plate LXIX.—Fig. 6. |

Arct. Zool. No. #88.—Laru. Syn. TI, p. 497.—PrALE’s Museum, No. 2858.

THIS is rather a scarce species on our coasts, and is never
met with on fresh water lakes or rivers. It is called by some gun-
ners the Sand Shoal Duck, from its habit of frequenting sand bars.
Its principal food appears to be shell fish, which it procures by
diving. The flesh is dry, and partakes considerably of the nature |
of its food. It is only seen here during winter ; most commonly
early in the month of March a few are observed in our market.
Of their particular manners, place, or mode of breeding nothing
more is known. Latham observes that a pair in the possession of
Sir Joseph Banks were brought from Labrador. Having myself
had frequent opportunities of examining both sexes of these birds,
I find that, like most others, they are subject when young to a
progressive change of color. The full plumaged male is as fol-
lows: length twenty inches, extent twenty nine inches; the base
of the bill, and edges of both mandibles for two thirds of their
length, are of a pale orange color, the rest black, towards the ex-
tremity it widens a little in the manner of the Shovellers, the sides
there having the singularity of being only a soft, loose, pendulous
skin; irides dark hazel; head and half of the neck white, marked
along the crown to the hind head with a stripe of black; the plu-
mage of the cheeks is of a peculiar bristly nature at the points,
and round the neck passes a collar of black, which spreads over
the back, rump, and tail coverts; below this color the upper part —

of the breast is white, extending itself over the whole scapulars,

92 PIED DUCK.

wing coverts, and secondaries; the primaries, lower part of the
breast, whole belly, and vent are black; tail pointed, and of a
blackish hoary color; the fore part of the legs and ridges of the
toes pale whitish ash; hind part the same bespattered with black-
ish, webs black; the edges of both mandibles are largely pecti-
nated. In young birds, the whole of the white plumage is gene-
rally strongly tinged with a yellowish cream color; in old males
these parts are pure white, with the exception sometimes of the
bristly pointed plumage of the cheeks, which retains its cream tint
the longest, and, with the skinny part of the bill, form two strong
peculiarities of this species. |

The female measures nineteen inches in length, and twenty
seven in extent; bill exactly as in the male; sides of the front
white; head, chin, and neck ashy grey; upper parts of the back
and wings brownish slate; secondaries only, white; tertials hoary;
the white secondaries form a spot on the wing, bounded by the
black primaries, and four hoary tertials edged with black; whole
lower parts a dull ash skirted with brownish white, or clay color;
legs and feet as in the male; the bill in both is marked from the
nostrils backwards by a singular heart shaped outline.

The windpipe of the male measures ten inches in length, and
has four enlargements, viz. one immediately below the mouth, and
another at the interval of an inch; it then bends largely down to
the breast bone, to which it adheres by two strong muscles, and
has at that place a third expansion. It then becomes flattened,
and before it separates into the lungs, has a fourth enlargement
much greater than any of the former, which is bony, and round,
puffing out from the left side. ‘The intestines measured six feet ;
the stomach contained small clams, and some glutinous matter ;
the liver was remarkably large.

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93

LONG-TAILED DUCK.
ANAS GLACIALIS.
[Plate LXX.—Fig. 1, Male. |

Le Canard & longue queie de Terre Neuve, Briss. V1, p. 382. 18.—Burr. IX, p. 202.— Pl. Enl. 1008;

—Epw. pl. 280.—Arct Zool. No. 501.—Laru. Syn. III, p. 528.—Praun’s Museum, No. 2810.

THIS Duck is very generally known along the shores of the
Chesapeake Bay by the name of South Southerly, from the singu-
larity of its cry, something imitative of the sound of those words,
and also, that when very clamorous they are supposed to betoken
a southerly wind; on the coast of New Jersey they are usually
called Old Wives. They are chiefly salt water Ducks, and seldom
ramble far from the sea. ‘They inhabit our bays and coasts dur-
ing the winter only; are rarely found in the marshes, but keep in
the channel, diving for small shell fish, which are their principal
food. In passing to and from the bays, sometimes in vast flocks,
particularly towards evening, their loud and confused noise may
be heard in calm weather at the distance of several miles. They
fly very swiftly, take short excursions, and are lively restless birds.
Their native regions are in the north, where great numbers of them
remain during the whole year; part only of the vast family migra-
ting south to avoid the severest rigors of that climate. They are
common to the whole northern hemisphere. In the Orkneys they
are met with in considerable flocks, from October to April; fre-
quent in Sweden, Lapland, and Russia; are often found about St.
Petersburgh, and also in Kamtschatka. Are said to breed at Hud-
son’s Bay, making their nest among the grass near the sea, like
the Eider Duck, and about the middle of June, lay from ten to
fourteen bluish white eggs, the size of those of a pullet. When

VO WiLL. Aa

94: LONG-TAILED DUCK.

the young are hatched the mother carries them to the water in her
bill. The nest is lined with the down of her breast, which is ac-
counted equally valuable with that of the Eider Duck, were it to
be had in the same quantity.* They are hardy birds, and excel-
lent divers. Are not very common in England, coming there only
in very severe winters; and then but in small straggling parties ;
yet are found on the coast of America as far south at least, as
Charleston in Carolina, during the winter. ‘Their flesh is held in
no great estimation, having a fishy taste. The down and plumage,
particularly on the breast and lower parts of the body, are very
abundant, and appear to be of the best quality.

The length of this species is twenty two inches, extent thirty
inches; bill black, crossed near the extremity by a band of orange;
tongue downy; iris dark red; cheeks and frontlet dull dusky drab,
passing over the eye, and joining a large patch of black on the
side of the neck, which ends in dark brown; throat and rest of the
neck white; crown tufted, and of a pale cream color; lower part
of the neck, breast, back, and wings black; scapulars and tertials
pale bluish white, long and pointed, and falling gracefully over
the wings; the white of the lower part of the neck spreads over
the back an inch or two, the white of the belly spreads over the
sides, and nearly meets at the rump; secondaries chesnut, form-
ing a bar across the wing; primaries, rump, and tail coverts black;
the tail consists of fourteen feathers, all remarkably pointed, the
two middle ones nearly four inches longer than the others ; these,
with the two adjoining ones, are black, the rest white; legs and
feet dusky slate.

On dissection, the intestines were found to measure five feet
six inches. The windpipe was very curiously formed; besides the
labyrinth, which is nearly as large as the end of the thumb, it has

an expansion immediately above that, of double its usual diame-

* Latham.

~ LONG-TAILED DUCK. 95

ter, which continues for an inch and a half; this is flattened on
the side next the breast, with an oblong window-like vacancy in
it, crossed with five narrow bars, and covered with a thin transpa-
rent skin, like the panes of a window; another thin skin of the
same kind is spread over the external side of the labyrinth, which
is partly of a circular form. ‘This singular conformation is, as
usual, peculiar to the male, the female having the windpipe of
' nearly an uniform thickness throughout. She differs also so much
in the colors and markings of her plumage as to render a figure
of her in the same plate necessary; for a description of which see
the following article.

96

FEMALE LONG-TAILED DUCK.

[Plate LXX.—Fig. 2.]

“nas hyemalis, Linn. Syst. 202. 29.—Laru. Syn. HT, p. 529.—Puan’s Mausewn, No. 2844.

THE female is distinguished from the male by wanting the
lengthened tertials, and the two long pointed feathers of the tail,
and also by her size, and the rest of her plumage, which is as fol-
lows: length sixteen inches, extent twenty eight inches; bill dusky;
middle of the crown and spot on the side of the neck blackish; a
narrow dusky line runs along the throat for two inches; rest of the
head and upper half of the neck white, lower half pale vinaceous
bay blended with white; all the rest of the lower parts of the body
pure white; back, scapulars, and lesser wing coverts bright ferru-
ginous, centered with black, and interspersed with whitish; shoul-
ders of the wing, and quills black; lower part of the back the
same, tinged with brown; tail pale brown ash, inner vanes of all
but the two middle feathers white; legs and feet dusky slate. The
legs are placed far behind, which circumstance points out the spe-
cies to be great divers. In some females the upper parts are less
ferruginous.

Some writers suppose the singular voice, or call, of this spe-
cies, to be occasioned by the remarkable construction of its wind-
pipe; but the fact, that the females are uniformly the most noisy,
and yet are entirely destitute of the singularities of this conforma-

tion, overthrows the probability of this supposition.

2)

SUMMER DUCK, OR WOOD DUCK.
ANAS SPONSA.
[Plate LXX.—Fig. 3. |

' Le vanard Wd’ Eté, Briss. VI, p. 354. 14. pl. 32. fig. 2.—Le beau Canard huppé, Bure. TX, p. 245.—
Pl. Enl. 980. 984.—Summer Duck, Cavressy, I, pl. 97.—Kpw. pl. 101.—Arct. Zool. No. 943.—

Lata. Syn. Il, p. 546.—PrALn’s Museum, No. 2872,

THIS most beautiful of all our Ducks, has probably no su-
perior among its whole tribe for richness and variety of colors.
It is called the Wood Duck, from the circumstance of its breeding
in hollow trees; and the Swmmer Duck, from remaining with us
chiefly during the summer. It is familiarly known in every quar-
ter of the United States, from Florida to Lake Ontario, in the
neighbourhood of which latter place I have myself met with it in
October. It rarely visits the sea shore, or salt marshes; its fa-
vorite haunts being the solitary deep and muddy creeks, ponds,
and mill dams of the interior, making its nest frequently in old
hollow trees that overhang the water.

The Summer Duck is equally well known in Mexico and
many of the West India islands. During the whole of our winters
_ they are occasionally seen in the states south of the Potowmac.
On the tenth of January I met with two on a creck near Peters-
burgh in Virginia. In the more northern districts, however, they
are migratory. In Pennsylvania the female usually begins to lay
late in April or early in May. Instances have been known where
the nest was constructed of a few sticks laid in a fork of the
branches; usually, however, the inside of a hollow tree is select-
ed for this purpose. On the eighteenth of May I visited a tree
containing the nest of a Summer Duck, on the banks of Tuckahoe

WGwe AEE Bb

98 SUMMER DUCK.

river, New Jersey. It was an old grotesque White Oak, whose
top had been torn off by a storm. It stood on the declivity of the
bank, about twenty yards from the water. In this hollow and bro-
ken top, and about six feet down, on the soft decayed wood, lay
thirteen eggs, snugly covered with down, doubtless taken from the
breast of the bird. These eggs were of an exact oval shape, less
than those of a hen, the surface exceedingly fine grained, and of
the highest polish and slightly yellowish, greatly resembling old
polished ivory. The egg measured two inches and an eighth by
one inch and a half. On breaking one of them, the young bird
was found to be nearly hatched, but dead, as neither of the parents
had been observed about the tree during the three or four days
preceding ; and were conjectured to have been shot.

This tree had been occupied, probably by the same pair, for
four successive years, in breeding time; the person who gave me
the information, and whose house was within twenty or thirty yards
of the tree, said that he had seen the female, the spring preceding,
carry down thirteen young, one by one, in less than ten minutes.
She caught them in her. bill by the wing or back of the neck, and
landed them safely at the foot of the tree, whence she afterwards
led them to the water. Under this same tree, at the time I visit-
ed it, a large sloop lay on the stocks, nearly finished, the deck was
not more than twelve feet distant from the nest, yet notwithstand-
ing the presence and noise of the workmen, the ducks would not
abandon their old breeding place, but continued to pass out and
in as if no person had been near. The male usually perched on
an adjoining limb, and kept watch while the female was laying ;
and also often while she was sitting. A tame goose had chosen a
hollow space at the root of the same tree, to lay and hatch her
young in.

The Summer Duck seldom flies in flocks of more than three
or four individuals together, and most commonly in pairs, or singly.
The common note of the drake is peet, peet; but, when standing

SUMMER DUCK. 99

centinel, he sees danger, he makes a noise not unlike the crowing
of a young cock, oe eek! oe eck! ‘Their food consists principally
of acorns, seeds of the wild oats, and insects. , Their flesh is in-
ferior to that of the Blue-winged Teal. They are frequent in the
markets of Philadelphia.

Among other gaudy feathers with which the Indians ornament
the Calumet or pipe of Peace, the skin of the head and neck of
the Summer Duck is frequently seen covering the stem.

This beautiful bird has often been tamed, and soon becomes
so familiar as to permit one to stroke its back with the hand. I
have seen individuals so tamed in various parts of the Union.
Captain Boyer, Collector of the port of Havre-de-Grace, informs
me that about forty years ago, a Mr. Nathan Nicols, who lived on
the west side of Gunpowder Creek, had a whole yard swarming
with Summer Ducks, which he had tamed and completely domes-
ticated, so that they bred and were as familiar as any other tame
fowls; that he (Capt. Boyer) himself saw them in that state, but
does not know what became of them. Latham says that they are
often kept in European menageries, and will breed there.”

The Wood Duck is nineteen inches in length, and two feet
four inches in extent, bill red, margined with black; a spot of
black lies between the nostrils, reaching nearly to the tip, which
is also of the same color, and furnished with a large hooked nail;
irides orange red; front, crown, and pendent crest rich glossy
bronze green ending in violet, elegantly marked with a line of
pure white running from the upper mandible over the eye, and
with another band of white proceeding from behind the eye, both
mingling their long pendent plumes with the green and violet
ones, producing a rich effect; cheeks and sides of the upper neck
violet; chin, throat, and collar round the neck pure white, curv-

ing up in the form of a crescent nearly to the posterior part of

* Gen. Syn. III, p. 547.

100 | SUMMER DUCK.

the eye; the white collar is bounded below with black; breast
dark violet brown, marked on the fore part with minute triangu-

lar spots of white, increasing in size until they spread into the

white of the belly; each side of the breast is bounded by a large

crescent of white, and that again by a broader one of deep black ;

sides under the wings thickly and beautifully marked with fine

undulating parallel lines of black, on a ground of yellowish drab;

the flanks are ornamented with broad alternate semicircular bands

of black and white; sides of the vent rich light violet; tail coverts

long, of a hair-like texture at the sides, over which they descend,

and of a deep black glossed with green; back dusky bronze, re-

flecting green; scapulars black; tail tapering, dark glossy green
above, below dusky; primaries dusky, silvery hoary without, tipt
with violet blue; secondaries greenish blue, tipt with white; wing
coverts violet blue tipt with black; vent dusky; legs and feet yel-

lowish red, claws strong and hooked.

The above is as accurate a description as I can give of a very
perfect specimen now before me, from which the figure in the plate
was faithfully copied.

The female has the head slightly crested, crown dark purple,
behind the eye a bar of white; chin, and throat for two inches,
also white; head and neck dark drab; breast dusky brown, mark-
ed with large triangular spots of white; back dark glossy bronze
brown, with some gold and greenish reflections. Speculum of the
wings nearly the same as in the male, but the fine pencilling of
the sides, and the long hair-like tail coverts, are wanting; the tail
is also shorter. . |

101

GREEN-WINGED ‘TEAL.
ANAS CRECCA.

Lari. Syn. Hil, p. 554.—Bewicx’s Br. Birds, v. I, p. 338.—PEALE’s Museum, Ne. 2832.

THE naturalists of Europe have designated this little Duck
by the name of the American Teal, as being a species different
from their own. On an examination, however, of the figure and
description of the European Teal by the ingenious and accurate
Bewick, and comparing them with the present, no difference whate-
ver appears in the length, extent, color, or markings of either, but
what commonly occurs. among individuals of any other tribe; both
undoubtedly belong to one and the same species.

This, like the preceding, is a fresh water Duck, common in
our markets in autumn and winter; but rarely seen here in sum-
mer. It frequents ponds, marshes, and the reedy shores of creeks
and rivers. Is very abundant among the rice plantations of the
southern states ; flies in small parties, and feeds at night. <Asso-
ciates often with the Duck and Mallard, feeding on the seeds of
various kinds of grasses and water plants, and also on the tender
leaves of vegetables. Its flesh is accounted excellent.

The Green winged Teal is fifteen inches in length, and twenty
four inches in extent; bill black, irides pale brown, lower eye lid
whitish, head glossy reddish chesnut; from the eye backwards to
the nape runs a broad band of rich silky green edged above and
below by a fine line of brownish white, the plumage of the nape
ends in a kind of pendent crest; chin blackish; below the ches-
nut, the neck, for three quarters of an inch is white, beautifully
crossed with circular undulating lines of black; back, scapulars,

VOL. VIII. ce |

me fl GREEN-WINGED TEAL.

and sides of the breast white, thickly crossed in the same manner;
breast elegantly marked with roundish or heart shaped spots of
black on a pale vinaceous ground, variegated with lighter tints ;
belly white; sides waved with undulating lines; lower part of the
vent feathers black; sides of the same brownish white, or pale
reddish cream; lesser wing coverts brown ash, greater tipt with
reddish cream; the first five secondaries deep velvetty black, the

next five resplendent green, forming the speculum or beauty spot,
which is bounded above by pale buff, below by white, and on each
side by deep black; primaries ashy brown; tail pointed, cighteen
feathers, dark drab; legs and feet flesh colored. In some a few
circular touches of white appear on the breast, near the shoulder
of the wing. The windpipe has a small bony labyrinth where it
separates into the lungs; the intestines measure three feet six
inches, and are very small and tender.

The female wants the chesnut bay on the head, and the band
of rich green through the eye, these parts being dusky white speck-
led with black; the breast is grey brown, thickly sprinkled with
blackish, or dark brown; the back dark brown, waved with broad
lines of brownish white; wing nearly the same as in the male.

This species is said to breed at Hudson’s Bay, and to have
from five to seven young at a time.* In France it remains through-
out the year, and builds in April, among the rushes on the edges
of ponds. It has been lately discovered to breed also in England,
in the mosses about Carlisle.t It is not known to breed in any
part of the United States. The Teal is found in the north of Eu-
- rope as far as Iceland; and also inhabits the Caspian sea to the
south. Extends likewise to China, having been recognized by
Latham among some fine drawings of the birds of that country.

* Latham. | + Bewick.

103

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.
ANAS VALISINERTA.

[Plate LXX.—Fig. 5. |

Prsare’s Museum, No. 2846.

THIS celebrated American species, as far as can be judged
from the best figures and descriptions of foreign birds, is altoge-
ther unknown in Europe. It approaches nearest to the Pochard
of England, Anas ferina, but differs from that bird in being supe-
rior in size and weight, in the greater magnitude of its bill, and
the general whiteness of its plumage. A short comparison of the
two will elucidate this point. The Canvas-back measures two
feet in length, by three feet in extent, and when in the best order
weighs three pounds and upwards. ‘The Pochard, according to
Latham and Bewick, measures nineteen inches in length, and
thirty in extent, and weighs one pound twelve or thirteen ounces.
The latter writer says of the Pochard, “the plumage above and
below is wholly covered with prettily freckled slender dusky
threads disposed transversely in close set zig-zag lines, on a pale
ground, more or less shaded off with ash;” a description much
more applicable to the bird figured beside it, the Red Head, and
which very probably is the species meant. In the figure of the
Pochard given by Mr. Bewick, who is generally correct, the bill
agrees very well with that of our Red Head; but is scarcely half
the size and thickness of that of the Canvas-back; and the figure
in the Planches Enluminees corresponds in that respect with Be-
wick’s. In short, either these writers are egregiously erroneous
in their figures and descriptions, or the present duck was altogether
unknown to them. Considering the latter supposition the more

104 CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

probable of the two, I have designated this as a new species, and
shall proceed to detail some particulars of its history.

The Canvas-back Duck arrives in the United States from
the north about the middle of October, a few descend to the Hud-
son and Delaware, but the great body of these birds resort to the
numerous rivers belonging to and in the neighbourhood of the
Chesapeake Bay, particularly the Susquehannah, the Patapsco,
Potowmac, and James’ rivers, which appear to be their general
winter rendezvous. Beyond this to the south, I can find no cer-
tain accounts of them. At the Susquehannah they are called Can-
vas-backs, on the Potowmac White-backs, and on James’ river
Sheldrakes. ‘They are seldom found at a great distance up any of
these rivers, or even in the salt water bay; but in that particular
part of tide water where a certain grass-like plant grows, on the
roots of which they feed. This plant, which is said to be a
species of Valisinerta, grows on fresh water shoals of from seven
to nine feet (but never where these are occasionally dry), in long
narrow grass-like blades of four or five feet in length; the root is
white, and has some resemblance to small celery. ‘This grass is
in many places so thick that a boat can with difficulty be rowed
through it, it so impedes the oars. ‘The shores are lined with
large quantities of it torn up by the ducks, and drifted up by the
winds, lying like hay in wind rows. Wherever this plant grows
in abundance the Canvas-backs may be expected, either to pay
occasional visits or to make it their regular residence during the
winter. It occurs in some parts of the Hudson; in the Delaware
near Gloucester, a few miles below Philadelphia; and in most of
the rivers that fall into the Chesapeake, to each of which particu-
lar places these ducks resort; while in waters unprovided with
this nutritive plant they are altogether unknown.

On the first arrival of these birds in the Susquehannah, near
Havre-de-Grace, they are generally lean; but such is the abund-
ance of their favorite food, that towards the beginning of Novem-

CANVAS-BACK DUCK. | 105

ber they are in pretty good order. They are excellent divers, and
swim with great speed and agility. They sometimes assemble in
such multitudes as to cover several acres of the river, and when
they rise suddenly, produce a noise resembling thunder. ‘They
float about these shoals, diving and tearing up the grass by the
roots, which is the only part they eat. They are extremely shy,
and can rarely be approached unless by stratagem. When wound-
ed in the wing they dive to such prodigious distances, and with
such rapidity, continuing it so perseveringly, and with such cun-
ning and active vigor, as almost always to render the pursuit hope-
less. From the great demand for these ducks, and the high price
they uniformly bring in market, various modes are practised to get
within gun shot of them. The most successful way is said to be,
decoying them to the shore by means of a dog, while the gunner
lies closely concealed in a proper situation. The dog, if properly
trained, plays backwards and forwards along the margin of the
water, and the ducks observing his manoeuvres, enticed perhaps
by curiosity, gradually approach the shore, until they are some-
times within twenty or thirty yards of the spot where the gunner
lies concealed, and from which he rakes them, first on the water
and then as they rise. This method is called tolleng them im. HW
the ducks seem difficult to decoy, any glaring object, such as a red
handkerchief, is fixed round the dog’s middle, or to his tail, and
this rarely fails to attract them. Sometimes by moonlight the
sportsman directs his skiff towards a flock whose position he had
previously ascertained, keeping within the projecting shadow of
some wood, bank, or headland, and paddles along so silently and
imperceptibly as often to approach within fifteen or twenty yards
of a flock of many thousands, among whom he generally makes
great slaughter.

Many other stratagems are practised, and indeed every plan
that the ingenuity of the experienced sportsman can suggest, to
approach within gun shot of these birds; but of all the modes pur-

VOL. VIII. A pd

106 CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

sued, none intimidate them so much as shooting them by night;
and they soon abandon the place where they have been thus re-
peatedly shot at. During the day they are dispersed about; but
towards evening collect in large flocks, and come into the mouths
of creeks, where they often ride as at anchor, with their head un-
der their wing, asleep, there being always centinels awake ready
to raise an alarm on the least appearance of danger. Even when
feeding and diving in small parties, the whole never go down at
one time, but some are still left above on the look out.

When the winter sets in severely, and the river is frozen, the
Canvas-backs retreat to its confluence with the bay, occasionally
frequenting air holes in the ice, which are sometimes made for
the purpose, immediately above their favorite grass, to entice them
within gun shot of the hut or bush which is usually fixed at a pro-
per distance, and where the gunner lies concealed, ready to take
advantage of their distress. A Mr. Hill, who lives near James’
river, at a place called Herring Creek, informs me, that one se-
vere winter he and another person broke a hole in the ice about
twenty by forty feet, immediately over a shoal of grass, and took
their stand on the shore in a hut of brush, each having three guns
well loaded with large shot. The ducks, which were flying up and
down the river in great extremity, soon crowded to this place, so
that the whole open space was not only covered with them, but
vast numbers stood on the ice around it. They had three rounds
firing both at once, and picked up eighty eight Canvas-backs, and
might have collected more had they been able to get to the extre-
mity of the ice after the wounded ones. In the severe winter of
1779-80, the grass, on the roots of which these birds feed, was al-
most wholly destroyed in James’ river. In the month of January
the wind continued to blow from W.N. W. for twenty one days,
which caused such low tides in the river that the grass froze to the
ice every where, and a thaw coming on suddenly, the whole was

raised by the roots and carried off by the fresh. The next winter

CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 107

a few of these ducks were seen, but they soon went away again ;
and for many years after, they continued to be scarce; and even
to the present day, in the opinion of my informant, have never
been so plenty as before. |

The Canvas-back, in the rich juicy tenderness of its flesh, and
its delicacy of flavor, stands unrivalled by the whole of its tribe in
this or perhaps any other quarter of the world. Those killed in
the waters of the Chesapeake are generally esteemed superior to
all others, doubtless from the great abundance of their favorite
food which these rivers produce. At our public dinners, hotels,
and particular entertainments, the Canvas-backs are universal fa-
vorites. ‘They not only grace but dignify the table, and their very
hame conveys to the imagination of the eager epicure the most
comfortable and exhilarating ideas. Hence on such occasions it
has not been uncommon to pay from one to three dollars a pair
for these ducks; and, indeed, at such times, if they can they must
be had, whatever may be the price.

‘The Canvas-back will feed readily on grain, especially wheat,
and may be decoyed to particular places by baiting them with that
grain for several successive days. Some few years since a vessel
loaded with wheat was wrecked near the entrance of Great Egg
Harbour, in the autumn, and went to pieces. The wheat floated
out in vast quantities, and the whole surface of the bay was in a
few days covered with ducks of a kind altogether unknown to the
people of that quarter. The gunners of the neighbourhood col-
lected in boats, in every direction, shooting them, and so success-
ful were they, that, as Mr. Beasley informs me, two hundred and
forty were killed in one day, and sold among the neighbours, at
twelve and a half cents a piece, without the feathers. The wound-
ed ones were generally abandoned, as being too difficult to be
come up with. ‘They continued about for three weeks, and dur-
ing the greater part of that time a continual cannonading was

heard from every quarter. The gunners called them Sea Ducks.

108 CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

They were all Canvas-backs, at that time on their way from the
north, when this floating feast attracted their attention, and for a
while arrested them in their course. A pair of these very ducks
I myself bought in Philadelphia market at the time, from an Ege
Harbour gunner, and never met with their superior either in weight
or excellence of flesh. When it was known among those people
the loss they had sustained in selling for twenty five cents what
would have brought them from a dollar to a dollar and a half per
pair, universal 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 blackish brown;
rest of the head and greater part of the neck bright glossy reddish
chesnut, ending in a broad space of black that covers the upper
part of the breast, and spreads round to the back; back, scapu-
lars, 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 grey with numerous specks
of blackish; primaries and secondaries pale slate, two or three of
the latter of which nearest the body are finely edged with deep
velvetty black, the former 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

CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 109

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 mem-
brane; where the trachea enters this it is very narrow, but imme-
diately above swells to three times that diameter. The intestines

are wide, and measure five feet in length.

VOL. VIII. E ec

110

RED-HEADED DUCK.
ANAS FERINA?

[Plate LXX.—Fig. 6. |

PEALE’s Museum, N’o. 2710.

THIS is a common associate of the Canvas-back, frequenting
the same places, and feeding on the stems of the same grass, the
latter eating only the roots; its flesh is very little inferior, and it
is often sold in our markets for the Canvas-back, to those unac-
quainted with the characteristic marks of each. Anxious as I am
to determine precisely whether this species be the Red-headed
Wigeon, Pochard, or Dun bird* of England, I have not been able
to ascertain the point to my own satisfaction; though I think it
very probably the same, the size, extent, and general description
of the Pochard agreeing pretty nearly with this.

The Red-head is twenty inches in length, and two feet six
inches in extent; bill dark slate, sometimes black, two inches
long, and seven eighths of an inch thick at the base, furnished
with a large broad nail at the extremity; irides flame-colored ;
plumage of the head long, velvetty, and inflated, running high
above the base of the bill; head, and about two inches of the
neck deep glossy reddish chesnut; rest of the neck and upper part
of the breast black, spreading round to the back; belly white, be-
coming dusky towards the vent by closely marked undulating lines
of black; back and scapulars bluish white, rendered grey by nu-
merous transverse waving lines of black; lesser wing coverts

brownish ash; wing quills very pale slate, dusky at,the tips; lower

* Local names given to one and the same Duck. It is also called the Poker.

RED-HEADED DUCK. 111

part of the back and sides under the wings brownish black, crossed
with regular zig-zag lines of whitish; vent, rump, tail, and tail co-
verts black; legs and feet dark ash. |

The female has the upper part of the head dusky brown, rest
of the head and part of the neck a light sooty brown; upper part
of the breast ashy brown, broadly skirted with whitish; back dark
ash, with little or no appearance of white pencilling; wings, bill,
and feet nearly alike in both sexes.

This duck is sometimes met with in the rivers of North and
South Carolina, and also in those of Jersey and New York; but
always in fresh water, and usually at no great distance from the
sea. Is most numerous in the waters of the Chesapeake; and with
the connoisseurs in good: eating, ranks next in excellence to the
Canvas-back. Its usual weight is about a pound and three quar-
ters, avoirdupois.

The Red-head leaves the bay and its tributary streams in
March, and is not seen until late in October.

The male of this species has a large flat bony labyrinth on
the bottom of the windpipe, very much like that of the Canvas-
back, but smaller; over one of its concave sides is spread an ex-
ceeding thin transparent skin, or membrane. The intestines are

of great width, and measure six feet in length.

THE MALLARD.
ANAS BOSCHAS.

[Plate LXX.—Fig. 7. |

Lara. Syn. OT, p. 489.—Bewicx, Il, p. 291.—Le Canard Saweage, Briss. Vi, p. 318. 4—Buerr.

IX, p. 145. pl. 7, 8—Peane’s Museum, No. 286%.

THE Mallard, or common Wild Drake, is so universally
known as scarcely to require a description. It measures twenty
four inches in length, by three feet in extent, and weighs upwards
of two pounds and a half; the bill is greenish yellow; irides hazel;
head and part of the neck deep glossy changeable green, ending in
a narrow collar of white; the rest of the neck and breast are of a
dark purplish chesnut; lesser wing coverts brown ash, greater
crossed near the extremities with a band of white, and tipt with
another of deep velvetty black ; below this lies the speculum, or
beauty spot, of a rich and splendid light purple, with green and
violet reflections, bounded om every side with black; quills pale
brownish ash; back brown, skirted with paler; scapulars whitish,
crossed with fine undulating lines of black; rump and tail coverts
black glossed with green, tertials very broad and pointed at the
ends; tail consisting of eighteen feathers, whitish, centered with
brown ash, the four middle ones excepted, which are narrow, black
glossed with violet, remarkably concave, and curled upwards to a
complete circle; belly and sides a fine grey, crossed by an infinite
number of fine waving lines, stronger and more deeply marked as
they approach the vent; legs and feet orange red.

The female has the plumage of the upper parts dark brown
broadly bordered with brownish yellow; and the lower parts yel-
low ochre spotted and streaked with deep brown; the chin and

THE MALLARD. 113

throat for about two inches, plain yellowish white; wings, bill, and
legs, nearly as in the male.

The windpipe of the male has a bony labyrinth, or bladder-
like knob puffing out from the left side. The intestines measure
six feet, and are as wide as those of the Canvas-back. The wind-
“pipe is of uniform diameter until it enters the labyrinth.

This is the original stock of the common domesticated duck,
reclaimed, time immemorial, from a state of nature, and now be-
come so serviceable to man. In many individuals the general
garb of the tame Drake seems to have undergone little or no al-
teration; but the stamp of slavery is strongly imprinted in his
dull. indifferent eye, and grovelling gait; while the lofty look, long
tapering neck, and sprightly action of the former, bespeak his na-
tive spirit and independence. | ,

The common Wild Duck is found in every fresh water lake
and river of the United States in winter; but seldom frequents the
sea shores or salt marshes. Their summer residence is the north,
the great nursery of this numerous genus. Instances have been
known of some solitary pairs breeding here in autumn. In Eng-
land these instances are more common. The nest is usually placed
in the most solitary recesses of the marsh, or bog, amidst coarse
grass, reeds, and rushes, and generally contains from twelve to
sixteen eggs of a dull greenish white. The young are led about
by the mother in the same manner as those of the tame duck; but
with a superior caution, a cunning and watchful vigilance pecu-
liar to her situation. ‘The male attaches himself to one female,
as among other birds in their native state, and is the guardian
and protector of her and her feeble brood. The Mallard is nu-
merous in the rice fields of the southern states during winter, many
of the fields being covered with a few inches of water, and the scat-
tered grains of the former harvest lying in abundance, the ducks
swim about and feed at pleasure.

WOtee Mb. ef

114 | THE MALLARD.

The flesh of the common Wild Duck is in general and high
estimation; and the ingenuity of man, im every country where it
frequents, has been employed in inventing stratagems to overreach
these wary birds, and procure a delicacy for the table. To enu-
merate all these various contrivances would far exceed our limits ;
a few, however, of the most simple and effective may be men-
tioned.

In some ponds frequented by these birds, five or six wooden —
figures, cut and painted so as to represent ducks, and sunk, by
pieces of lead nailed on their bottoms, so as to float at the usual
depth on the surface, are anchored in a favorable position for be-
ing raked from a concealment of brush, &c. on shore. The ap-
pearance of these usually attracts passing flocks, which alight, and
are shot down. Sometimes eight or ten of these painted wooden
ducks are fixed on a frame in various swimming postures, and se-
cured to the bow of the gunner’s skiff, projecting before it in such
a manner that the weight of the frame sinks the figures to their
proper depth; the skiff is then drest with sedge or coarse grass
in an artful manner, as low as the water’s edge; and under cover
of this, which appears like a party of ducks swimming by a small
island, the gunner floats down sometimes to the very skirts of a
whole congregated multitude, and pours in a destructive and re-
peated fire of shot among them. In winter, when detached pieces
of ice are occasionally floating in the river, some of the gunners
on the Delaware paint their whole skiff or canoe white, and laying
themselves flat at the bottom, with their hand over the side silently
managing a small paddle, direct it imperceptibly into or near a
flock, before the ducks have distinguished it from a floating mass
of ice, and generally do great execution among them. . A whole
flock has sometimes been thus surprised asleep, with their heads
under their wings. On land, another stratagem is sometimes prac-
tised with great success. <A large tight hogshead is sunk in the

flat marsh, or mud, near the place where ducks are accustomed to

THE MALLARD. . 115

feed at low water, and where otherwise there is no shelter; the
edges and top are artfully concealed with tufts of long coarse grass
and reeds, or sedge. From within this the gunner, unseen and
unsuspected, watches his collecting prey, and when a sufficient
number offers, sweeps them down with great effect. The mede
of catching Wild Ducks, as practised in India,* China,+ the island
of Ceylon, and some parts of South America,? has been often de-
Scribed, and seems, if reliance may be placed on those accounts,
only practicable in water of a certain depth. ‘The sportsman co-
vering his head with a hollow wooden vessel or calabash, pierced
with holes to see through, wades into the water, keeping his head
only above, and thus disguised, moves in among the flock, which
take the appearance to be a mere floating calabash, while sudden-
ly pulling them under by the legs, he fastens them to his girdle,
and thus takes as many as he can conveniently stow away, with-
out in the least alarming the rest. They are also taken with
snares made of horse hair, or with hooks baited with small pieces
of sheep’s lights, which floating on the surface, are swallowed by
the ducks, and with them the hooks. ‘They are also approached
under cover of a stalking horse, or a figure formed of thin boards
or other proper materials, and painted so.as to represent a horse
or.ox. But all these methods require much watching, toil, and
fatigue, and their success is but trifling when compared with that
of the Decoy now used both in France and England,! which, from
its superiority over every other mode, is well deserving the atten-
tion of persons of this country residing in the neighbourhood of ex-
tensive marshes frequented by Wild Ducks; as, by this method,
Mallard and other kinds may be taken by thousands at a time.

The following circumstantial account of these decoys, and the
manner of taking Wild Ducks in them in England, is extracted
from Bewick’s History of British Birds, vol. ii, p. 294.

%* Naval Chron. vol. ii, p. 473. } Du Halde, Hist. China, vol. ii, p. 4142. { Ulloa’s Voy. i, p. 53.

|| Particularly in Picardy, in the former country, and Lincolnshire in the latter.

116 THE MALLARD.

‘“¢ In the lakes where they resort,” says the correspondent of
that ingenious author, “ the most favorite haunts of the fowl are
observed: then in the most sequestered part of this haunt, they cut
a ditch about four yards across at the entrance, and about fifty or
sixty yards in length, decreasing gradually in width from the en-
trance to the farther end, which is not more than two feet wide.
It is of a circular form, but not bending much for the first ten
yards. The banks of the lake, for about ten yards on each side
of this ditch (or pipe, as it is called) are kept clear from reeds,
coarse herbage, &c. in order that the fowl may get on them to sit
and dress themselves. Across this ditch, poles on each side, close
to the edge of the ditch, are driven into the ground, and the tops
bent to each other and tied fast. These poles at the entrance
form an arch, from the top of which to the water is about ten
feet. This arch is made to decrease in height, as the ditch de-
creases in width, till the farther end is not more than eighteen
inches in height. ‘The poles are placed about six feet from each
other, and connected together by poles laid lengthways across the
arch and tied together. Over them a net with meshes sufficiently
small to prevent the fowl getting through, is thrown across, and
made fast to a reed fence at the entrance, and nine or ten yards
up the ditch, and afterwards strongly pegged to the ground. At
the farther end of the pipe, a tunnel net, as it is called, is fixed,
about four yards in length, of a round form, and kept open by
a number of hoops about eighteen inches in diameter, placed
at a small distance from each other, to keep it distended. Sup-
posing the circular bend of the pipe to be to the right, when
you stand with your back to the lake, on the left hand side a
number of reed fences are constructed, called shootings, for the
purpose of screening from sight the decoy-man, and in such a man-
ner, that the fowl in the decoy may not be alarmed, while he is
driving those in the pipe: these shootings are about four yards in

length, and about six feet high, and are ten in number. They are

THE MALLARD. 117

(

« ene OAT
Mi \ i Wal

} f Hh ih f i Vil

l i \ \ Hy AN te }
( } H aANEAED ‘ Vi
(SS See ‘ AA HAMAS
Ville —— ee aati

From the

placed in the following manner—

end of the last shooting, a person cannot see the lake, owing to
the bend of the pipe: there is then no farther occasion for shel-
ter. Were it not for those shootings, the fowl that remain about
the mouth of the pipe would be alarmed, if the person driving the
fowl already under the net should be exposed, and would become
so shy as to forsake the place entirely. The first thing the decoy-
man does when he approaches the pipe, is to take a piece of lighted
turf or peat and hold it near his mouth, to prevent the fowl smell-
ing him. He is attended by a dog taught for the purpose of assist-
ing him: he walks very silently about half way up the shootings,
where a small piece of wood is thrust through the reed fence, which
makes an aperture just sufficient to see if any fowl are in; if not,
he walks forward to see if any are about the mouth of the pipe.
If there are, he stops and makes a motion to his dog, and gives
him a piece of cheese or something to eat; upon receiving it he
goes directly to a hole through the reed fence, (No. 1.) and the
fowl immediately fly off the bank into the water; the dog returns
along the bank between the reed fences and the pipe, and comes
out to his master at the hole (No. 2.) The man now gives him
another reward, and he repeats his round again, till the fowl are
attracted by the motions of the dog, and follow him into the mouth
of the pipe. This operation is called working them. The man
now retreats farther back, working the dog at different holes till
the fowl are sufficiently under the net: he now commands his dog
to lay down still behind the fence, and goes forward to the end of
the pipe next the lake, where he takes off his hat and gives it a
wave between the shooting; all the fowl under the net can see
him, but none that are in the lake can. The fowl that are in sight
fly forward; and the man runs forward to the next shooting and
waves his hat, and so on, driving them along till they come to the

VOL. VIII. G.¢

ig THE MALLARD.

tunnel net, where they creep in: when they are all in, he gives
the net a twist, so as to prevent their getting back: he then takes
the net off from the end of the pipe with what fowl he may have
caught, and takes them out one at a time, and dislocates their
necks, and hangs the net on again; and all is ready for working
again.

‘In this manner five or six dozen have been taken at one
drift. When the wind blows directly in or out of the pipe, the
fowl seldom work well, especially when it blows in. If many
pipes are made in a lake, they should be so constructed as to suit
different winds.

‘Duck and Mallard are taken from August to June. ‘Teal
or Wigeon, from October to March. Becks, Smee, Golden Eyes,
Arps, Cricks, and Pintails or Sea Pheasants, in March and April.

“Poker Ducks are seldom taken, on account of their diving

and getting back in the pipe.

\ NY NL
ROLY ys
ey ae

WON

A ATS Way Ki, ty
= NU
NS lee

REFERENCES TO THE CUT.

No. 4. Dog’s hole, where he goes to unbank the fowl.
2. Reed fences on each side of the mouth of the pipe.
3. Where the decoy-man shows himself:to the fowl first, and afterwards at the end of every
shooting. Fhe
4. Small reed fence to prevent the fowl seeing the dog when he goes to unbank them.
5. The shootings. :
6. Dog’s holes between the shootings, used when working.
7. Tunnel net at the end of the pipe.
8. Mouth of the pipe.

THE MALLARD. eS

It may be proper to observe here, that the ducks feed during
the night, and that all is ready prepared for this sport in the
evening. The better to entice the ducks into the pipe, hemp seed
is strewed occasionally on the water. The season allowed by act
of parliament for catching these birds in this way, is from the lat-
ter end of October till February.

‘Particular spots or decoys, in the fen countries, are let to
the fowlers at a rent of from five to thirty pounds per annum ;
and Pennant instances a season in which thirty-one thousand two
hundred ducks, including 'Teals and Wigeons, were sold in Lon-
don only, from ten of these decoys near Wainfleet, in Lincoln-
shire. Formerly, accordingly to Willoughby, the ducks, while in
moult and unable to fly, were driven by men in boats, furnished
with long poles, with which they splashed the water between long
nets, stretched vertically across the pools, in the shape of two
sides of a triangle, into lesser nets placed at the point; and in
this way, he says, four thousand were taken at one driving in
Deeping-Fen; and Latham has quoted an instance of two thou-
sand six hundred and forty-six being taken in two days, near
Spalding in Lincolnshire; but this manner of catching them while

in moult is now prohibited.”

120

THE GADWALL.
ANAS STREPERA.

[Plate LXXI.—Fig. 1.]
3
Le Chipeau, Briss. VI, p. 339. 8. pl. 33. fig. 1.—Burr. IX, 187.—Pl. Enl. 958.—Aret. Zool, p.'575.—

Laru. Syn. Il, p. 545.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 2750.

THIS beautiful Duck I have met with in very distant parts of
the United States, viz. on the Seneca lake in New York, about the
twentieth of October, and at Louisville on the Ohio, in February,
I also shot it near Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. With its parti-
cular manners or breeding place, Iam altogether unacquainted.

The length of this species is twenty inches, extent thirty ene
inches; bill two inches long, formed very much like that of the
Mallard, and of a brownish black; crown dusky brown, rest of
the upper half of the neck brownish white, both thickly speckled
with black; lower part of the neck and breast dusky black, ele-
gantly ornamented with large concentric semicircles of white;
scapulars waved with lines of white on a dusky ground, but nar-
rower than that of the breast; primaries ash; greater wing coverts
black, and several of the lesser coverts immediately above chesnut
red; speculum white, bordered below with black, forming three
broad bands on the wing of chesnut, black, and white; belly
dull white; rump and tail coverts black, glossed with green; tail
tapering, pointed, of a pale brown ash edged with white; flanks —
dull white elegantly waved; tertials long, and of a pale brown,
legs orange red.

The female I have never seen. Latham describes it as fol- |
lows: “ differs in having the colors on the wings duller, though

marked the same as the male; the breast reddish brown spotted

oD
Dyed

Sy

Ske

{A ;
Ab, COCA S.

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a
i

THE GADWALL. 124

with black; the feathers on the neck and back edged with pale
red; rump the same instead of black; and those elegant semi-
circular lines on the neck and breast wholly wanting.”

The flesh of this duck is excellent, and the windpipe of the
male is furnished with a large labyrinth.

The Gadwall is very rare in the northern parts of the United
States; is said to inhabit England in winter, and various parts of
France and Italy; migrates to Sweden, and is found throughout
Russia and Siberia.* |

this very quick diver, so as to make it difficult to be shot;

flies also with great rapidity, and utters a note not unlike that of
the Mallard, but louder. Is fond of salines and ponds overgrown
with reeds and rushes. Feeds during the day, as well as in the
morning and evening.

* Latham.

VOL. VIII. | H h

122

EIDER DUCK.
ANAS MOLLISSIMA.

_ [Plate LXXI.—Fig. 2, Male.}

L’ Oye a@ duvet, ou V Eider, Briss. VI, p. 294. pl. 29, 30.—Burr. IX, p. 103. pl. 6.—Pl. Enl. 209.
Great Black and White Duck, Enw. pl. 98.—BeEwick, II, p. 279.—-Arct. Zool. No. 480.—LaTu.

Syn. II, p. 470.—PrALE’s Museum, No. 2706.

THE Eider Duck has been long celebrated in Europe for
the abundance and excellence of its down, which for softness,
warmth, lightness, and elasticity surpasses that of all other ducks.
The quantity found in one nest more than filled the crown of a
hat; yet weighed no more than three quarters of an ounce;* and
it is asserted that three pounds of this down may be compressed
into a space scarce bigger than a man’s fist; yet is afterwards so
dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet square.t |

The native regions of the Eider Duck extend from 45° north
to the highest latitudes yet discovered, both in Europe and Ame-
rica. Solitary rocky shores and islands are their favorite haunts.
Some wandering pairs have been known to breed on the rocky
islands beyond Portland in the district of Maine, which is perhaps
the most southern extent of their breeding place. In England the
Fern Isles, on the coast of Northumberland, are annually visited by
a few of these birds, being the only place in South Britain where
they are known to breed. They occur again in some of the West-
ern isles of Scotland. Greenland and Iceland abound with them,
and here, in particular places, their nests are crowded so close

together that a person can scarcely walk without treading on

* Pennant. + Salern. Orn. p. 446.

EIDER DUCK. 123

them. The natives of those countries know the value of the down,
and carry on a regular system of plunder both of it and also of
the eggs. ‘The nest is generally formed outwardly of drift grass,
dry sea weed, and such like materials, the inside composed of a
large quantity of down plucked from the breast of the female; in
this soft elastic bed she deposits five eggs, extremely smooth and
glossy, of a pale olive color; they are also warmly covered with
the same kind of down. When the whole number is laid, they
are taken away by the natives, and also the down with which the
nest is lined, together with that which covers the eggs. The fe-
male once more strips her breast of the remaining down, and lays
a second time; even this, with the eggs is generally taken away,
and it is said that the male in this extremity furnishes the third
quantity of down from his own breast; but if the cruel robbery be
a third time repeated, they abandon the place altogether. One
female, during the whole time of laying, generally gives half a
pound of down; and we are told, that in the year 1750, the Ice-
land Company sold as much of this article as amounted to three
thousand seven hundred and forty five banco dollars, besides what
was directly sent to Gluckstadt.* The down from dead birds is
little esteemed, having lost its elasticity.

These birds associate together in flocks, generally in deep
water, diving for shell fish, which constitute their principal food.
‘They frequently retire to the rocky shores to rest, particularly on
the appearance of an approaching storm. They are numerous on
the coast of Labrador, and are occasionally seen in winter as far
south as the capes of Delaware. Their flesh is esteemed by the
inhabitants of Greenland; but tastes strongly of fish.

The length of this species is two feet three inches, extent
three feet; weight between six and seven pounds; the head is

large, and the bill of singular structure, being three inches in

* Letters on Iceland, by Uno Van Troil, p- 146.

124, | EIDER DUCK.

length, forked in a remarkable manner, running high up in the
forehead, between which the plumage descends nearly to the nos-
tril; the whole of the bill is of a dull yellowish horn color some-
what dusky in the middle; upper part of the head deep velvet
black, divided laterally on the hind head by a whitish band;
cheeks white; sides of the head pale pea green, marked with
a narrow line of white dropt from the ear feathers; the plumage
of this part of the head, to the throat, is tumid, and looks as if
cut off at the end, for immediately below the neck it suddenly
narrows, somewhat in the manner of the Buffel-head, enlarging
again greatly as it descends, and has a singular hollow between
the shoulders behind; the upper part of the neck, the back, sca-
pulars, lesser wing coverts, and sides of the rump are pure white;
lower part of the breast, belly, and vent black; tail, primaries
and secondaries brownish black, the tertials curiously curved,
falling over the wing; legs short, yellow; webs of the feet dusky.

Latham has given us the following sketch of the gradual pro-
gress of the young males to their perfect colors: ‘In the first
year the back is white, and the usual parts, except the crown,
black; but the rest of the body is variegated with black and white.
In the second year the neck and breast are spotted black and
white, and the crown black. In the third the colors are nearly as
when in full plumage; but less vivid, and a few spots of black
still remaining on the neck; the crown black, and bifid at the
back part. |

“ The young of both sexes are the same, being covered with
a kind of hairy down: throat and breast whitish; and a cinereous
line from the bill through the eyes to the hind head.” *

* Synopsis III, p. 474.

125

FEMALE EIDER DUCK.
[Plate LXXIL—Fig. 3.]
PEALE’s Museum, No. 2707.

THE difference of color in these two birds is singularly great.
The female is considerably less than the male, and the bill does
not rise so high in the forehead; the general color is a dark red-
dish drab, mingled with lighter touches, and every where spotted
with black; wings dusky, edged with reddish; the greater coverts
and some of the secondaries are tipt with white; tail brownish
black, lighter than in the male; the plumage in general is cen-
tered with bars of black, and broadly bordered with rufous drab;
cheeks and space over the eye light drab ; belly dusky, obseurely
mottled with black; legs and feet as in the male.

Van Troil,.in his Letters on Iceland, observes respecting this
Duck, that “the young ones quit the nest soon after they are
hatched, and follow the female, who leads them to the water,
where having taken them on her back, she swims with them a
few yards, and then dives, and leaves them floating on the water!
In this situation they soon learn to take care of themselves, and
are seldom afterwards seen on the land; but live among the rocks,
and feed on insects and sea weed.”

Some attempts have been made to domesticate these birds,

but hitherto without success.

VOL. VIII. £ fou!

THE SMEW, OR WHITE NUN.
MERGUS ALBELLUS.

[Plate LXXIJ.—Fig. 4. ]

Le petit Harle huppé, ou la Piette, Briss. VI, p. 243. 3. pl. 24. fig. 4.—Burr. VIII, p. 275. pl. 24.—

Pl. Enl. 449.—Bewicx, I, p. 238.—Laru. Syn. II, p. 428.—Arct. Zool. No. 468.

THIS is another of those Mergansers commonly known in
this country by the appellation of Fishermen, Fisher Ducks, or
Divers. ‘The present species is much more common on the coast
of New England than farther to the south. On the shores of New
Jersey it is very seldom met with. It is an admirable diver, and
can continue for a long time under water. Its food is small fry,
shell fish, shrimps, &c. In England, as with us, the Smew is seen
only during winter; it is also found in France, in some parts of
which it is called /a Piette, as in parts of England it is named the
Magpie Diver. Its breeding place is doubtless in the Arctic re-
gions, as it frequents Iceland; and has been observed to migrate
with other Mergansers and several kinds of Ducks up the river
Wolga in February.* — Wahi

The Smew, or White Nun is nineteen inches in length, and
two feet three inches in extent; bill black, formed very much like
that of the Red-breasted M., but not so strongly toothed; irides
dark; head crested; crown white, hind head black, round the
area of the eye a large oval space of black; whole neck, breast,
and belly white, marked on the upper and lower part of the breast
with a curving line of black; back black; scapulars white, cross-

ed with several faint dusky bars; shoulder of the wing and prima-

* Dee. Russ. IT, p. 145.

THE SMEW. 127

ries black, secondaries and greater coverts black broadly tipt with
white; across the lesser coverts a large band of white; sides and
flanks crossed with waving lines; tail dark ash; legs and feet pale
bluish slate. | | | |

The female is considerably less than the male; the bill a dark
lead color; crest of the same peculiar form as that of the male, but
less, and of a reddish brown; marked round the area of the eyes
with dusky; cheeks, fore part of the neck, and belly white; round
the middle of the neck a collar of pale brown; breast and shoul-
ders dull brown and whitish intermixed; wings and back marked
like those of the male; but of a deep brownish ash in those parts
which in him are black; legs and feet pale blue. The young
birds, as in the other three species, strongly resemble the female
during the first and part of the second year. As these changes of
color, from the garb of the female to that of the male, take place
in the remote regions of the north, we have not the opportunity of
detecting them in their gradual progress to full plumage. Hence,
as both males and females have been found in the same dress,
some writers have considered them as a separate species from the
Smew, and have given to them the title of the Red-headed Smew.

In the ponds of New England, and some of the lakes in the
state of New York, where the Smew is frequently observed, these
red-headed kind are often found in company, and more numerous
than the other, for very obvious reasons, and bear, in the mark-
ings, tho not in the colors, of their plumage, evident proof of their
being the same species, but younger birds or females. The male,
like the Muscovy Drake and many others, when arrived at his full
size is nearly one third heavier than the female, and this dispro- |
portion of weight, and difference of color, in the full grown males

and females are characteristic of the whole genus.

128

RUDDY DUCK.
ANAS RUBIDUS.

(Plate LXXI.—Fig. 5, Male.]

PEALE’s Miseum, No. 2808.-

THIS very rare Duck was shot, some years ago on the river
- Delaware, and appears to be an entire new species. The speci-
men here figured, with the female that accompanies it, and which
was killed in the same river, are the only individuals of their kind
I have met with. They are both preserved in the superb Museum
of my much respected friend, Mr. Peale, of this city.

On comparing this Duck with the description given by La-
tham of the Jamaica Shoveller, 1 was at first inclined to believe |
had found out the species; but a more careful examination of both
satisfied me that they cannot be the same, as the present differs
considerably in ‘color; and besides has some peculiarities which
the eye of that acute ornithologist could not possibly have over-
looked, in his examination of the species said to have been received
by him from Jamaica. Wherever the general residence of this
species may be, in this part of the world, at least, it is extremely
rare, since among the many thousands of ducks brought to our
markets during winter, I have never heard of a single individual
of the present kind having been found among them.

The Ruddy Duck is fifteen inches and a half in length, and
twenty two inches in extent; the bill is broad at the tip, the un-
der mandible much narrower, and both of a rich light blue; nos-
trils small, placed in the middle of the bill; cheeks and chin white;
front, crown, and back part of the neck down nearly to the back,

black; rest of the neck, whole back, scapulars flanks and tail co-

RUDDY DUCK. 129

verts deep reddish brown, the color of bright mahogany; wings
plain pale drab, darkest at the points; tail black, greatly taper-
ing, containing eighteen narrow pointed feathers; the plumage of
the breast and upper part of the neck is of a remarkable kind,
being dusky olive at bottom, ending in hard bristly points of a
silvery grey, very much resembling the hair of some kinds of seal
skins ; all these are thickly marked with transverse curving lines
of deep brown; belly and vent silver grey, thickly crossed with
dusky olive; under tail coverts white; legs and feet ash colored.

VEO tLe 4 Kk

130

FEMALE RUDDY DUCK.

(Plate LXXI.—Fig. 6.]
PraAte’s Museum, No. 2809.

| THIS is nearly of the same size as the male; the front, lores,
_ and crown, deep blackish brown; bill as in the male, very broad
at the extremity, and largely toothed on the sides, of the same
rich blue; cheeks a dull cream; neck plain dull drab, sprinkled
about the auriculars with blackish; lower part of the neck and
breast variegated with grey, ash, and reddish brown; the reddish
dies off towards the belly, leaving this last of a dull white shaded
with dusky ash; wings as in the male; tail brown; scapulars
dusky brown thickly sprinkled with whitish, giving them a grey
appearance; legs ash. |

A particular character of this species is its tapering sharp
pointed tail, the feathers of which are very narrow; the body is
short; the bill very nearly as broad as some of those called Sho-

vellers; the lower mandible much narrower than the upper.

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151

THE BRANT.
ANAS BERNICLA.

[Plate LXXII.—Fig. 1. |

Te Crévant, Briss. Vi, p. 304. 16. pl. 34.— Burr. IX, p. 87.—Bewicx, Hi, p. 277.—Laru. Syn. HI,

/

p. 467.—dlret, Zool. No. 478,—Paaie’s Museum, No. 270%.

THE Brant, or as it is usually written Brent, is a bird well
known on both continents, and celebrated in former times through-
out Europe for the singularity of its origin, and the strange trans-
formations it was supposed to undergo previous to its complete or-
ganization. Its first appearance was said to be in the form of a
barnacle shell adhering to old water-soaked logs, trees, or other
pieces of wood taken from the sea. Of this Goose-bearing tree Ge-
rard, in his Herbal, published in 1597, has given a formal account,
and seems to have reserved it for the conclusion of his work as
being the most wonderful of all he had to describe. The honest
naturalist however, tho his belief was fixed, acknowledges that his
own personal information was derived from certain shells, which
adhered to a rotten tree that he dragged out of the sea between
Dover and Romney in England; in some of which he found “ liv-
ing things without forme or shape; in others which were nearer
come to ripeness, living things that were very naked, in shape like
a birde; in others the birds covered with soft downe, the shell half
open and the birde readie to fall out, which no doubt were the

foules called Barnakles.”*

Ridiculous and chimerical as this no-
tion was, it had many advocates, and was at that time as gene-

rally believed, and with about.as much reason too, as the present

* See Gerard’s Herbal, Art. Goose-hearing Tree.

132 THE BRANT.

opinion of the annual submersion of swallows, so tenaciously in-
sisted on by some of our philosophers, and which, like the former
absurdity, will in its turn disappear before the penetrating radiance
and calm investigation of truth.

‘The Brant and Barnacle Goose, tho generally reckoned two
different species, I consider to be the same. Among those large
flocks that arrive on our coasts about the beginning of October,
individuals frequently occur corresponding in their markings with
that called the Bernacle of Europe, that is, in having the upper
parts lighter, and the front, cheeks, and chin whitish. ‘These
appear evidently a variety of the Brant, probably young birds ;
what strengthens this last opinion is the fact that none of them
are found so marked on their return northward in the spring.

The Brant is expected at Egg Harbour on the coast of New
Jersey about the first of October, and has been sometimes seen as
early as the twentieth of September. The first flocks generally
remain in the bay a few days, and then pass on to the south. On
recommencing their journey, they collect in one large body, and
making an extensive spiral course, some miles in diameter, rise to
a great height in the air, and then steer for the sea, over which
they uniformly travel; often making wide circuits to avoid pass-
ing over a projecting point of land. In these aerial routes they
have been met with many leagues from shore, travelling the whole
night. ‘Their line of march very much resembles that of the Ca-
nada Goose, with this exception, that frequently three or four are
crowded together in the front, as if striving for precedency. Flocks
continue to arrive from the north, and many remain in the bay till
December, or until the weather becomes very severe, when these
also move off southwardly. During their stay they feed on the
bars at low water, seldom or never in the marshes; their princi-
pal food being a remarkably long and broad-leaved marine plant,
of a bright green color, which adheres to stones, and is called by
the country people sea cabbage; the leaves of this are sometimes

THE BRANT. 133

eight or ten inches broad by two or three feet im length; they also
eat small shell fish. They never dive, but wade about feeding at
low water. During the time of high water they float in the bay
in long lines, particularly in calm weather. ‘Their voice is hoarse
and honking, and when some hundreds are screaming together,
reminds one of a pack of hounds in full cry. They often quarrel
among themselves, and with the ducks, driving the latter off their
feeding ground. Tho it never dives in search of food, yet when
wing broken the Brant will go one hundred yards at a stretch un-
der water; and is considered, in such circumstances, one of the
most difficult birds to kill. About the fifteenth or twentieth of
May they re-appear on their way north; but seldom stop long,
unless driven in by tempestuous weather.

The breeding place of the Brant is supposed to be very far
to the north. They are common at Hudson’s Bay, very numerous
in winter on the coasts of Holland and Ireland; are called in Shet-
land Harra geese, from their frequenting the sound of that name;
they also visit the coast. of England. Buffon relates, that in the
severe winters of 1740 and 1765, during the prevalence of a strong
north wind, the Brant visited the coast of Picardy in France, in
prodigious multitudes, and committed great depredations on the
corn, tearing it up by the roots, trampling and devouring it; and
notwithstanding the exertions of the inhabitants, who were con-
stantly employed in destroying them, they continued in great force
until a change of weather carried them off.

The Brant generally weighs abont four pounds avoirdupois,
and measures two feet in length, and three feet six inches in ex-
tent; the bill is about an inch and a half long, and black; the
nostril large, placed nearly in its middle; head, neck, and breast
black, the neck marked with a spot of white, about two inches
below the eye; belly pale ash edged with white; from the thighs
backwards white; back and wing coverts dusky brownish black,
the plumage lightest at the tips; rump and middle of the tail co-

VOL. VIII. | L

134 THE BRANT.

verts black, the rest of the tail coverts pure white, reaching nearly
to the tip of the tail, the whole of which is black, but usually con-
cealed by the white coverts; primaries and secondaries deep
black; legs also black; irides dark hazel.

The only material difference observable between the plumage
of the male and female, is, that in the latter the white spot on the
neck is less, and more mottled with dusky. In young birds it is
sometimes wanting, or occurs on the front, cheeks, and chin; and
sometimes the upper part of the neck, only, is black ;* but in full
plumaged birds, of both sexes, the markings are very much alike.

The Brant is often seen in our markets for sale. Its flesh,
tho esteemed by many, tastes somewhat sedgy, or fishy.

¢ h 8 : & eS a) eg 2 ga> > oP) apr ¥, i ay Ge hk ge 3 a
* "Phe feure of this bird given by Bewiek, is in that state.

135

SCOTER DUCK.
ANAS NIGRA.
[Plate LX XII.—Fig. 2. |

Te Macreuse, Briss. VI, p. 420. pl. 38. fig. 2.—Burr. IX, p. 234. pl. 16.—Pl. Enl. 978.—Brwicx,

Il, p. 288.—Aret. Zool. No. 484.—Latu. Syn. IIT, p. 480.—PEALE’s Museum, No. 2658.

THIS Duck is but little known along our sea coast, being
more usually met with in the northern than southern districts ;
and only during the winter. Its food is shell fish, for which it is
almost perpetually diving. That small bivalve so often mention-
ed, small muscles, spout fish, called on the coast razor handles,
young clams, &c. furnish it with abundant fare; and wherever
these are plenty the Scoter is an occasional visitor. They swim,
seemingly at ease, amidst the yery roughest of the surf; but fly
heavily along the surface, and to no great distance. They rarely
penetrate far up our rivers, but seem to prefer the neighbourhood
of the ocean; differing in this respect from the Cormorant, which
often makes extensive visits to the interior. |

The Scoters are said to appear on the coasts of France in
great numbers, to which they are attracted by a certain kind of
small bivalve shell fish called vaimeaux, probably differing little
from those already mentioned. Over the beds of these shell fish
the fishermen spread their nets, supporting them, horizontally, at
the height of two or three feet from the bottom. At the flowing
of the tide the Scoters approach in great numbers, diving after
their favorite food, and soon get entangled in the nets. ‘Twenty
or thirty dozen have sometimes been taken in a single tide.
These are sold to the Roman Catholics, who eat them on those

days on which they are forbidden by their religion the use of ani-

136 SCOTER DUCK.

mal food, fish excepted; these birds, and a few others of the same
fishy flavor, having been exempted from the interdict, on the sup-
position of their being cold blooded, and partaking of the nature
of fish.* | |

The Scoter abounds in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Russia,
and Siberia. It was also found by Osbeck, between the islands of
Java and St. Paul, Lat. 30 and 34, in the month of June.t

This species is twenty one inches in length, and thirty four
in extent, and is easily distinguished from all other ducks by the
peculiar form of its bill, which has at the base a large elevated
knob, of a red color, divided by a narrow line of yellow, which
spreads over the middle of the upper mandible, reaching nearly -
to its extremity, the edges and lower mandible are black; the eye
lid is yellow, iris dark hazel; the whole plumage is black, inclin-
ing to purple on the head and neck; legs and feet reddish.

The female has little or nothing of the knob on the bill; her
plumage above a sooty brown, and below of a greyish white.

* Bewick. ; + Voy. i. p. £20.

137

VELVET DUCK. |
ANAS FUSCA.
[Plate LXXII.—Fig. 3. |

Le grande Macreuse, Briss. VI, p. 423, 29.—Burr. IX, p. 242.—Pl. Enl. 956.—Arct. Zool. No. 482.

—Bewick, I, p. 286.—Laru. Syn. IT, p. 482.—Peratn’s Museum, Vo. 2658, Female.

THIS and the preceding are frequently confounded together
as one and the same species by our gunners on the sea coast. The
former, 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 or gunners, and is very little esteemed.

The Velvet Duck measures twenty three inches in length,
and two feet nine inches in extent, and weighs about 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 are 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 red on
the outside, and deep yellow sprinkled with blackish on the inner
sides; tail short and pointed.

VOL. VIII. Mm

138 VELVET DUCK.

The female is very little less than the male; but differs con-
siderably in its markings. The bill is dusky, forehead and cheeks
white, under the eye dull brownish; behind that a large oval spot
of white; whole upper parts and neck dark brownish drab; tips
of the plumage lighter, secondaries white; wing quills deep brown;
belly brownish white; tail hoary brown; the throat is white, mark-
ed with dusky specks; legs and feet yellow.

Latham informs us that this species is sometimes seen on the
coast of England, but is not common there; that it inhabits Den-
mark and Russia, and in some parts of Siberia is very common.
It is also found at Kamtschatka, where it is said to breed, going
far inland to lay; the eggs are eight or ten, and white; the males
depart, and leave the females to remain with the young until they
are able to fly. In the river Ochotska they are so numerous that
a party of natives, consisting of fifty or more, go off in boats and
drive these ducks up the river before them, and when the tide ebbs
fall on them at once, and knock them on the head with clubs, kill-

ing such numbers that each man has twenty or thirty for his share.*

* Hist. Kamtschatka, p. 160.

Poy

HARLEQUIN DUCK.
ANAS HISTRIONICA.
[Plate LXXII.—Fig. 4.]

Le Canard & Collier de Terre Neuve, Briss. VI, p. 362. 14.—Burr. IX, p. 250.—Pl. Enl. 798.—Aret.

4ool. No. 490.—Latu. Syn. UI, p. 484.

THIS species is very rare on the coasts of the middle and
southern states, tho not unfrequently found off those of New Eng-
land, where it is known by the dignified title of the Lord, probably
from the elegant crescents and circles of white which ornament its
neck and breast. Tho an inhabitant of both continents, little else
is known of its particular manners than that it swims and dives
well; flies swift, and to a great height; and has a whistling note.
Is said to frequent the small rivulets inland from Hudson’s Bay,
where it breeds. The female lays ten white eggs on the grass;
the young are prettily speckled. It is found on the eastern conti-
nent as far south as lake Baikal, and thence to Kamtschatka, par-
. ticularly up the river Ochotska; and was also met with at Acona-
lashka and Iceland.* At Hudson’s Bay it is called the Painted
Duck, at Newfoundland and along the coast of New England, the
Lord; it is an active vigorous diver, and often seen in deep water,
considerably out at sea.

The Harlequin Duck, so called from the singularity of its
markings, is seventeen inches in length, and twenty eight inches
in extent; the bill is of moderate length, of a lead color tipt with
red, irides dark; upper part of the head black; between the eye

and bill a broad space. of white, extending over the eye, and end-

* Latham.

140 HARLEQUIN DUCK.

ing in reddish; behind the ear a similar spot; neck black, ending
below in a circle of white; breast deep slate, shoulders or sides of
the breast, marked with a semicircle of white ; belly black; sides
chesnut; body above black or deep slate, some of the scapulars
white; greater wing coverts tipt with the same; legs and feet deep
ash; vent and pointed tail black. |

The female is described as being less, “the forehead, and
between the bill and eye, white, with a spot of the same behind
the ear; head, neck, and back, brown, palest on the fore part of
the neck; upper part of the breast and rump red brown, lower
breast and belly barred pale rufous and white; behind the thighs
rufous and brown; scapulars and wing coverts rufous brown; outer
greater ones blackish; quills and tail dusky, the last inclining to
rufous; legs dusky.” *

The few specimens of this duck which I have met with, were
all males; and from the variation in their colors it appears evi-
dent that the young birds undergo a considerable change of plu-
mage before they arrive at their full colors. In some the white
spot behind the eye was large, extending irregularly half way
down the neck; in others confined to a roundish spot.

The flesh of this species is said to be excellent.

* Tatham.

141

DUSKY DUCK.
ANAS OBSCURA.
tine LXXI—Fig. 5.]
“ret. Zool. No. 469.—Latu. Syn. TH, p. 545.—Peane’s Museum, No. 2880.

THIS species is generally known along the sea coast of New
Jersey and the neighbouring country by the name of the Black
_ Duck, being the most common and most numerous of all those of
its tribe that frequent the salt marshes. It is only partially mi-
_gratory. Numbers of them remain during the summer, and breed
in sequestered places in the marsh, or on the sea islands of the
beach. The eggs are eight or ten in number, very nearly resem-
bling those of the domestic duck. Vast numbers, however, regu-
larly 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 fiats are inter-
sected. Their principal food consists of those minute snail shells
so abundant in the marshes. They occasionally visit the sandy
beach in search of small bivalves, and on these occasions some-
times cover whole acres with their numbers. 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 ex-
tremely shy during the day; and on the most distant report of a
musquet, rise from every quarter of the marsh in prodigious num-
bers, dispersing in every direction. 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 fiight
being then low. Geese, Brant, and Black Duck are the common

VOL. VIII. Non

142 DUSKY DUCK.

game of all our gunners along this part of the coast during win-
ter; but there are at least ten black duck for one goose or brant,
and probably many more. Their voice resembles that of the Duck
and Mallard; but their flesh is greatly inferior, owing to the nature
of their food. They are, however, large, heavy bodied ducks, and
generally esteemed. |

I cannot discover that this species is found in any of the re-
mote northern parts of our continent; and this is probably the
cause why it is altogether unknown in Europe. It is abundant
from Florida to New England; but is not enumerated among the
birds of Hudson’s Bay, or Greenland. Its chief residence is on
the sea coast, tho it also makes extensive excursions up the tide
waters of our rivers. Like the Mallard they rarely dive for food,
but swim and fly with great velocity.

The Dusky, or Black Duck, is two feet in length, and three
feet two inches in extent ; the bill is of a dark greenish ash, form-
ed very much like that of the Mallard, and nearly of the same
length; irides dark; upper part of the head deep dusky brown, in-
termixed on the fore part with some small streaks of drab; rest of
the head and greater part of the neck pale yellow ochre, thickly
marked with small streaks of blackish brown; lower part of the
neck, and whole lower parts, deep dusky, each feather edged with
brownish white, and with fine seams of rusty white; upper parts
the same, but rather deeper; the outer vanes of nine of the se-
condaries bright violet blue, forming the beauty spot, which is
bounded on all sides by black; wings and tail sooty brown; tail
feathers sharp pointed; legs and feet dusky yellow; lining of the
wings pure white.

The female has more brown on her plumage; but in other
respects differs little from the male, both having the beauty spot
on the wing.

143

MARSH TERN.
STERNA ARANEA.

[Plate LXXII.—Fig. 6.]
PeEaLe’s Museum, No. 3521.

THIS new species I first met with on the shores of Cape May,
particularly over the salt marshes, and darting down after a kind
of large black spider, plenty in such places. This spider can tra-
vel under water as well as above, and, during summer at least,
seems to constitute the principal food of the present Tern. In se-
veral which I opened, the stomach was crammed with.a mass of
these spiders alone; these they frequently pick up from the pools
as well as from the grass, dashing down on them in the manner
of their tribe. Their voice is sharper and stronger than that of
the Common Tern; the bill is differently formed, being shorter,
more rounded above, and thicker; the tail is also much shorter,
and less forked. They do not associate with the others; but keep
in small parties by themselves.

The Marsh Tern is fourteen inches in length, and thirty four
in extent; bill thick, much rounded above, and of a glossy black-
ness; whole upper part of the head and hind neck black; whole
upper part of the body hoary white; shafts of the quill and tail
feathers pure white; line from the nostril under the eye, and whole
lower parts pure white; tail forked, the outer feathers about an
inch and three quarters longer than the middle ones; the wings
extend upwards of two inches beyond the tail; legs and feet black,
hind toe small, straight, and pointed.

The female, as to plumage, differs in nothing from the male.
The yearling birds, several of which I met with, have the plumage

144 MARSH TERN.

of the crown white at the surface, but dusky below; so that the
boundaries of the black, as it will be in the perfect bird, are clearly
defined; through the eye a line of black passes down the neck for
about an inch, reaching about a quarter of an inch before it; the
bill is not so black as in the others; the legs and feet dull orange,
smutted with brown or dusky; tips and edges of the primaries
blackish; shafts white.

_ This species breeds in the salt marshes, the female drops her
eggs, generally three or four in number, on the dry drift grass,
without the slightest appearance of a nest; they are of a greenish
olive, spotted with brown. |

_ A specimen of this Tern has been deposited in the Museum
of this city.

SOOTY TERN.
STERNA FULIGINOSA.
[Plate LXXIL—Fig. 7.]

Le Hirondelle de Mer & grande enverguer, Burr. VIII, p. 345.—Egg-bird, Forst. Voy. p. 113.—
Noddy, Dame. Voy. U1, p. 142.—Arct. Zool. No. 447.—Laru. Syn. TIT, p. 352.—Peaun’s Jilu-

seum, NO. 3459.

THIS bird has been long known to navigators, as its appear-
ance at sea usually indicates the vicinity of land; instances, how-
ever, have occurred in which they have been met with one hundred
leagues from shore.* The species is widely dispersed over the va-
rious shores of the ocean. They were seen by Dampier in New
Holland; are in prodigious numbers in the island of Ascension ;
and in Christmas Island are said to lay, in December, one egg on
the ground; the egg is yellowish, with brown and violet spots.t
In passing along the northern shores of Cuba and the coast of
Florida and Georgia, in the month of July, I observed this species —
very numerous and noisy, dashing down headlong after small fish.
I shot and dissected several, and found their stomachs uniformly
filled with fish. I could perceive little or no difference between
the colors of the male and female.

Length of the Sooty Tern seventeen inches, extent three feet
six inches; bill an inch and a half long, sharp pointed and rounded
above, the upper mandible serrated slightly near the point; nos-
tril an oblong slit, color of the bill glossy black; irides dusky ;
forehead as far as the eyes white; whole lower parts and sides of

the neck pure white; rest of the plumage black; wings very long

* Cook, Voy. i, p. 275. + Turton.

VOL. VIII. O O

146 SOOTY 'TERN.

and pointed, extending, when shut, nearly to the extremity of the
tail, which is greatly forked, and consists of twelve feathers, the
two exterior ones four inches longer than those of the middle,
the whole of a deep black, except the two outer feathers, which are
white, but towards the extremities a little blackish on the inner
vanes; legs and webbed feet black, hind toe short.

The secondary wing feathers are eight inches shorter than.
the longest primary.

This bird frequently settles on the rigging of ships at sea,
and, in common with another species, S. Stolida, is called by sai-

lors the Noddy.

END OF THE EIGHTH VOLUME.

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