Identifier: birdcraftfield00wrig (find matches)
Title: Birdcraft : a field book of two hundred song, game, and water birds
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Wright, Mabel Osgood, 1859-1934 Fuertes, Louis Agassiz, 1874-1927
Subjects: Birds -- United States
Publisher: New York : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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r species associating with this is the Eed-breastedMerganser, which hardly differs from it save in the rednessof the upper breast and in having a long, pointed crest.Both species inhabit the vicinity of fresh and salt water alike. Sdb-familt Anatin^ : River Ducks.iMallard: Anas hoschas. Plate 71. Length: 24 inches. Male: Bill greenish yellow; head and upper part of neck brilliant,glossy green, a white colar dividing it from the chestnut-brownof the lower neck. Under parts and sides pale gray, wavedwith darker. Back reddish brown at top, growing dull neartail. Tail coverts black ; tail mostly white ; wings gray, white,and black. Speculum^ shaded purple, bordered with black.Feet orange-red. 1 Ducks feeding largely upon juicy vegetable matter, and not divingfor their food. Feet smaller than those of the Sea Ducks, and more suitedfor walking. 2 The secondary quills of the wings of Ducks usually exhibit patches ofvaried or iridescent colour ; this coloured patch is called the speculum. 256
Text Appearing After Image:
SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks Female: Dull; under parts yellowish, blotched faintly with dusky ; above back, brown ; some feathers with rusty edges. Head and neck mottled like under parts.Season: A wandering visitor, taken occasionally in the autumn on the Housatonic at Stratford.Breeds: Northward from the Northern States, more frequently in the interior.Nest: Of dry grass, weeds, and feathers, on the ground near the water.Eggs: 8-10, yellow, gray.Bange: Northern part of Northern Hemisphere. In America south in winter to Panama and Cuba. A very handsome and notable game Duck, living chieflyon vegetable diet, and having delicate flesh; plentiful aroundthe Great Lakes. Black Duck: Anas obscura. Length: 22 inches. Male and Female : Bill greenish yellow. Above dusky, but not black ;feathers edged with rusty brown. Neck, throat, and sides ofhead streaked with grayish and dark. Below brownish. Specu-lum violet and black; in the male tipped with white. Legs red. Season : A resident, but more plentif

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