its feet delicate, and its wings long

lh that of other ducks,
small in calibre, with a slight enlargement

| small and narrow as compared wit

graceful, its bil ao :
* Mr. Yarrell informs us,

and pointe d. “ The windpipe,
ibout two inches above the bony
Its food, like that of the Common

its flesh is savoury and excellent.
ht become semidomesticated seems likely. IT have

is rather
protuberance The voice is loud ; and hence it obtained the

b : i . . rm . . ee . - .
— ” Duck, the Pintail, and the Teal, is said to consist of
name of streperd.
grasses and water-plants :
7 i ‘oper care ¢ attenti this species mig
Chat with proper care and attention oe i? ys 7
in instance of its breeding in the Gardens of the Zoological Society 5 and Dr. Bachman, in
_“ Ty the year 1812 I saw in Duchess County,

t thirty, which from their peculiar appearance struck

yntioned above — '
. lul State of New York, at the house ofa
a note to Audubon, says :—
miller, a fine flock of Ducks, to the number of at leas
I had before seen among the varieties 0
of these Ducks had been captured in the mill-pond, whether in a trap

lift fi f the tame Duck. On inquiry, I was
me as dil ereut rom any
informed that, three vears before, a pair a ; :
Ji i rv-Var c TAG Re Tere eas
or by being wounded, I cannot recollect. They were kept in the poultry-yard, and, it was said, were easily
of the wing was taken off to prevent their flying away. In the following spring they were

tamed. One joint op
and they returned daily to the house to be fed. Phey built a nest on the edge

suffered to go into the pond,
of the pond, and reared a large brood. The young were perfectly reconciled to domestication, and made
; — , , oO ¥ d 5 e

no attempts, even at the migratory season, to fly away, although their wings were perfect. In the following

season they produced large broods. The family of the miller used them occasionally as food, and considered
them equal in flavour to the Common Duck, and more easily raised.” —Aud. Orn. Biogr., vol. v. p. 354.

To sav there is no external difference in the sexes would be to assert an untruth ; but, the male being
much less adorned than the males of its congeners, the sexes are necessarily much more alike. The female
‘< in fact very similarly clothed to the female of the common Wild Duck (Anas boschas), but may at all times
be ie aenishod from ber mate by her plainer clothing and by the greater delicacy of her structure.

The male has the head and neck greyish brown, spotted and ringed on the nape with dark brown ; the
under part of the neck, back, and breast lunulated with black ; scapularies and sides barred with zigzag
lines of white and brownish black; lesser wing-coverts chestnut-red ; greater coverts, rump, and under
tail-coverts black ; speculum pure white, bordered below with black, so as to form three broad bands on the
wing of chestnut, black, and white; abdomen dull white; rump and tail-coverts glossed with green; bill
blackish olive ; irides hazel; legs, toes, and interdigital membranes orange-yellow, claws black.

The female has the head mottled brown, streaked with blackish brown ; a pale stripe over the eye; upper
and under surface light reddish brown, each feather edged with a lunule of blackish brown in the centre,
lesser wing-coverts hair-brown, with paler margins ; speculum the same as in the male; tail dark brown,
edged and tipped with buffy brown and white; chin and throat white; abdomen white; bill paler than
in the male, and margined with yellowish orange.

The Plate represents a male of the size of life, and a female considerably reduced.