106 L O N G - T A I L E D DUCK.
fers swimming against botli wind and tidigjas then it can sooner take
wing if necessary. In calm and pleasant weather, like its congeners,
it is fond of throwing, its body almost over, and of pluming itself in
that position. When on wing, the long feathers; (of its tail do not
seem to aid its progress-,,¡any more than in other sp'ixies.
It. seldom removes from the north on its way to our Middle Districts
in large -flocks; but at the approach of the Breeding season, and
after the birds appear to be all paired, they fly northward i-Mlong lines,
or broad fronts, moving high or low- according to the state of the
weather, passing at times at a considerable distance from the shorosf".
but flying close to the points of every capo, although tli'cy never pass
ovpr an isthmus however narrow. Their flight is swift, well sustained,
and accompanied with a well-markgd isMstling of their wings, Being
expert clivers, it Is difficult to kill them on the water; and if you happen*
to wound one but slightly, I would advise you, Header, to give
up the chase, unless you have hijit: while on the ice, in which case you
will find that it runs rather awkwardly. Their flesh is limioyot' the
best, being dark, generally tiMigh, anil to the taste fishy ^ for which
reason they are nmv-a-ilays frequently brought to our markets plucked,
with the head and foot cut off, and called by the venders by all »¡itrjos
excepting ®ld wivess squaws^-noisy ducks, or simthsoutliorliqs. The
food of this specific consists chiefly of jgjii'll-issli: but in the stomachs
of those killed on fresh water in Labrador, I found small fishes, and a
quantity of grass and its. root:'j&%-
Erom the great number of specimens which I- have procured, in, our
Middle Districts in winter, and thosftywliich 1 have seen killed during
the love season in the north, I am induced, to think that the olongatyd
feathers of.-the tail of this species scarcely if at.all, differ in length,at
these-different periods, although sonic writers have..saiil that, in spring
they are much-longer than in winter, in which latter season, however,
I think the .old males differ only in the, colour of their plumage from
their state in spring: I have, ¡obtained male, specimens at New York
and at Baltimore early in March, when they were already much changed
from their appearance in winter;; hut my friend Bachman ¡¿¡.forms me
that he ha* never seen one with any appoanniee of the summer plumage
at Charleston in South Carolina, whereilfowever,, he adds, this,
species is not common.
I have represented twq male birds, W e in its full spring di*ess, the
LONG-TAILED DUCK. 107
other in that of wintef." > You will also find, in the saine plate thé first
figure ever given of an adult frroalei'aeeompanied with as many younglings
as ¿ouldYconveniently introduce. Wilson gave the figure of a
young mêle in the first winter as that, of a female.
Anas Gl.AdAi.is,¿L. Syst. N a t . ' « i . p. 2 0 3 . - M . Ind. Ornith. vol, ii. p. 864.
F o t i s u iA MACIAI.IS, Bmwpxm, Bvnopsis, p. 395.
Lo.w-i»il.Kn Dick, Asab ui.aciaj.iI^ Amer. Ornith. vol. vili. p. 93. pi. 70.
fig. 1. male, pi. 70. figs 2. fumali!. '
Losa-,TAILED B í f e B í » « » « . a c i a i i s , « m o r , . »anna Boi-.
Amur. vol. ii. p. 460.
Lokg-tailedSIiick, SiittaH, Manual,,vol. ii. p. 483.
Adult male in summer. Plate CCCXII. Fig. 'l.
Bill shorter than the head, higher than broad at the base, gradually
depressed toward the end, the sides nearly parallel, the tip rounded.
Upper mandible' with the' basal angles inconspicuous, the dorsal line
descending and "straight to the unguis, then convex and deeurved, the
ridge broad é ¿ d flattened át the hase, con vex toward the end, the sides
sloping and convex, the unguis roundish, Uní "eilges raembrunou?, very
narrow at the base, enlarged towards the end, with about thirty lamol
lae ending in a projecting point. Nostrils sub-basal, oblong, direct,
large, pervious, near the ridge, in an oblong groove": with a soft membrane.
Lower mandible flat, a little curved upwards, the angle very
long and narrow, the unguis hroad and rounded, the erect edges with
about forty direct lamella'.
' Head oblotig, compressed, of moderate size. Eyes of moderate
size. Neck rather short. Body compact, rather elongated, and somewhat
depressed:,'1 Keel 'short, stout, placed rather far behind ; tarsus
very short, compressed, anteriorly with a series of small scutella, externally
of which are five in a line with the Outer tóe, the rest reticulated
with angular scalésl'0 HinâWé vèry small, with a free membrane
' beneath ; outer toe, which is the longest, almost double the length of
the tarsus, middle toé scarcely shoriét than outer ; anterior toes with
numerous narrow scutella, webbed, the margin of the webs concave ;
inner toé with à two-lòhed expanded margin. Claws small, slightly
arched, blunt,
Plumage dense, blended, elastic, stiffish;: but soft and glossy on the
head'; the feathers hroad and slightly rounded at the end. Scapulars