A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman.

George Montagu

Date:: 1866

Credit: A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$The weight of the Ferruginous Duck also corresponds with the Wigeon and not with the uyroca : the colour of tlie bill and legs also appears to agree with that of the ■\Vigeon. Under all tliese circumstances we have been induced to consider the Anas nyroca as probably distinct from the ferruginea, and have therefore given it the English name prefixed. The advantage derived from attentliug to the trachea in aquatic birds, which ai-e found to vary so extremely in plumage, has been shewn in several instances, and we have now ano- ther opportunity of proring how essential it is to attend to the confonnation of that part. The following is a description of the trachea and its labjrinth, which was extracted from a male Castaneous Duck, and which will be found to differ from any thing of the kind hitherto described. The trachea of this species somewhat re- sembles that of the Scaup Duck, but it greatly decreases in size at both extremi- ties, and the bony or caiiilaginous rings surround it in all parts; whereas in the Scaup the trachea scarcely decreases at the upper extremity, and the under side for its whole length, except near the laby- rinth, is membranaceous, the bony rings not extending over that part. This cha- 1‘acteristic distinction of the Scaup has not, we believe, been before noticed. The diameter of the trachea of the nyroca is in the middle nearly half an inch, and at the lower extremity not above one-eighth of an inch. In the labyiinthic part there is also some aflSnity between these two Ducks, but that of the Scaup is very supe- rior in size, and the orca, or bony box be- hind the tympanum, is vastly more tumid. In both there is a bony arch which crosses the tympanum, but the back of the tym- panum in the nyroca Duck is nearly aU bone, except a little on the left side; whereas, in the Scaup, that part is also covered with a thin membrane, intersected with fine ramifications of bone. Duck, Clucking.—See Duck,Bimaculated, Duck, Common or Wild. — [ Yarrell, iii. 205; Hewitson, cxiii. 407.] Anas Boschas, Lin. Syst. i. p. 205, 40; Gmel. Syat. ii. p. 6-38; Ind. Om. ii. p. 850, 49. Anas fera, Bria. vi. p. 318, 4; 16. 8vo, ii. p. 447. Ca- nard sauvage, Buf. Lx. p. 115, t. 7, 8. Wild Duck, Br. Zool. ii. No. 270, t. 97 ; 16. fol. 175; Arct. Zool. ii. No. 494; Will. Angl. p. .308, t. 72, 75; Albin, ii. t. 10; 16. i. t. 99; Lath. Syn. vi. p. 489, 43; Pult. Cat. Doraet. p. 21; Wale. Syn. i. t. 77 ; Don. Br. Birds, v. t. 124; Lewin, Br. Birds, vii. t. 240; Lath. Syn. Sup. 11, p. 351; Lin. Trans. 4, p. 112, No. 17, t. 13, f. 10 (the Trachea). Provincial: Stock Duck. — The male bii’d. Mallard or Drake, as it is called, weighs about two pounds and a half; length neai’ twenty-three inches. The bill is of a yello'wish green ; irides hazel; the head and upper part of the neck deep glossy green, bounded below TOth a white circle, which almost sur- rounds the neck; the lower part of the neck before and breast dull purplish ches- nut; the back is brown; the sides and scapulars white, marked with numerous small undulated lines of brown; the rump, upper and under tail-coverts, black; on the wing-coverts is a riansverse streak of white, edged with another of black; be- neath which is the speculum, of a fine purplish or violet-blue, on the secondary quills, which are shaded to a black near the ends, and tipped with white, and forms another narrow hne of this last colour on the wings; the belly is pale gi’ey, minutely speckled with light brown in undulated Imes; the tail consists of twenty feathers, the four middle ones aj’e of a glossy greenish black, and curve up- wards in a singular manner, and so con- nected as to appear only as two feathers; the others are strait, pointed, and of a greyish brown, margined with white. The female is not so large, and of a rusty brown, spotted with dusky black; the speculum on the wings is like the male; but none of the tail-feathers are curved; the legs of both sexes are orange. The Duck breeds on many of our rivers and lakes; sometimes at a considerable distance from the water. It scrapes together a httle of such vegetables ttS are contiguous for a nest, and lays from ten to eighteen eggs of a bluish white. At the time of incubation the female plucks the down from her breast to Hne the nest, and frequently covers the eggs when she leaves them. It frequently happens that a large variety of this bird is caught in our decoys, or shot by the sportsmen; but these are only half-domesticated Ducks, which are obHged to leave the canals or pieces of water be- longing to private persons when they become frozen. These are called Eouen Ducks. It is observable in most kinds of birds whose young leave the nest as soon as hatched, that they deposit their eggs on the ground. There arc, however, some instances in which this species, the Shield- rake, and perhaps others, occasionally vary in this paitioular. We have been assured, by a person of undoubted vera- city, that a half-domesticated Duck made a nest in Rumford Tower, hatched her young, and brought them down in safety to a piece of water at a considerable dis- tance. Others have been known to breed in trees ; and we recollect the nest of this bii-d being found in the head of an old$