Plate CCCII. Male and Female.
Tail much rounded, of eighteen acute feathers, none of which are
recurved; bill yellowish-green; feet orange-red, the webs dusky;
upper part of head glossy brownish-black, the feathers margined with
light brown; sides of head and a band over the eye light
greyish-brown, with longitudinal dusky streaks; general colour
blackish-brown, a little paler beneath, all the feathers margined with
pale reddish-brown; wing-coverts greyish-dusky, with a faint tinge of
green; ends of secondary coverts velvet black; primaries and their
coverts blackish-brown; secondaries darker; speculum green, blue,
violet, or amethyst-purple, bounded by velvet-black, the feathers also
tipped with a narrow line of white; under surface of wing and
axillaries white. Female more brown, with the speculum similar, but
without the white terminal line.
_Male_, 24-1/2, 38-1/2. _Female_, 22, 34-1/4.
Breeds in Texas, westward, and throughout the United States, British
Provinces, and Labrador. Columbia River. Common in autumn and spring
along the Middle Atlantic Districts. Abundant in the Southern and
Western States, in winter.
Dusky Duck, Anas obscura, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 141.
Anas obscura, Bonap. Syn. p. 384.
Dusky Duck, Anas obscura, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 392.
Dusky Duck, Anas obscura, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 15.