graceful, its bill small and narrow as compared with that of other ducks, its feet delicate, and its wings long
and pointed. “ The windpipe,” Mr. Yarrell informs us, “ is rather small in calibre, with a slight enlargement
of the tube about two inches above the bony protuberance. The voice is loud; and hence it obtained the
name o f strepera.” Its food, like that o f the Common Duck, the Pintail, and the Teal, is said to consist o f
grasses and water-plants; its flesh is savoury and excellent.
That with proper care and attention this species might become semidomesticated seems likely. I have
mentioned above an instance o f its breeding in the Gardens o f the Zoological Society; and Dr. Bachman, in
a note to Audubon, says:—“ In the year 1812 I saw in Duchess County, State o f New York, at the house o f a
miller, a fine flock of Ducks, to the number o f at least thirty, which from their peculiar appearance struck
me as different from any I had before seen among the varieties o f the tame Duck. On inquiry, I was
informed that, three years before, a pair o f these Ducks had been captured in the mill-pond, whether in a trap
or by being wounded, I cannot recollect. They were kept in the poultry-yard, and, it was said, were easily
tamed. One joint o f the wing was taken off to prevent their flying away. In the following spring they were
suffered to go into the pond, and they returned daily to the house to be fed. They built a nest on the edge
o f the pond, and reared a large brood. The young were perfectly reconciled to domestication, and made
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 o f 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. Vi p. 354.
To say there is no external difference in the sexes would be to assert an untruth; but, the male being
much less adorned than the males o f its congeners, the sexes are necessarily much more alike. The female
is in fact very similarly clothed to the female o f the common W ild Duck (Anas boschas), but may at all times
be distinguished from her mate by her plainer clothing and by the greater delicacy o f her structure.
The male has the head and neck greyish brown, spotted and ringed on the nape with dark brown ; the
under part o f the neck, back, and breast luuulated with black; scapularies and sides barred with zigzag
lines o f 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 a s 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 e y e ; upper
and under surface light reddish brown, each feather edged with a lunule o f 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 o f life, and a female considerably reduced.
*