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Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813. / American ornithology; or The natural history of the birds of the United States
(1829)

Species 25. Anas labradora. Pied duck,   pp. [369]-370


Page 370


round the neck passes a collar of black, which spreads over the
back, rump, and tail coverts; below this colour the upper part
of the breast is white, extending itself over the whole scapulars,
wing coverts, and secondaries; the primaries, lower part of the
breast, whole belly, and vent are black; tail pointed, and of a
blackish hoary colour; the fore part of the legs and ridges of
the toes pale whitish ash; bind part the same bespattered
with blackish, webs black; the edges of both mandibles are
largely pectinated. In young birds, the whole of the white
plumage is generally strongly tinged with a yellowish cream
colour; in old males these parts are pure white, with the excep-
tion 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 gray; upper parts of the back
and wings brownish slate; secondaries only, white; tertials hoa-
ry; 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 colour; 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 be-
comes 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 intes-
tines measured six feet; the stomach contained small clams, and
some glutinous matter; the liver was remarkably large.
PI'ED D UCK.
370


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