Bill with an abrupt prominence in front, the lateral protuberances
covered with feathers; tail wedge-shaped, of fourteen stiff, narrow
feathers. Male with the basal prominence and sides at the base black,
toward the end bright red; unguis flesh-coloured, with a black line on
each side; feet carmine on the outer, orange-red on the inner side,
webs greyish-black; plumage brownish-black, glossed with blue above,
lighter beneath; outer secondary quills and a spot beneath the eye
white. Female with the bill dusky, its basal prominence slight;
plumage sooty-brown, breast and abdomen lighter; two whitish spots on
each side of the head; outer secondary quills white, as in the male.
_Male_, 22, 39. _Female_, 22, 38.
From the coast of Georgia eastward to Nova Scotia, during winter, when
it is extremely abundant in all the estuaries and bays. Breeds from
Labrador northward.
Velvet Duck, Anas fusca, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 137.
Fuligula fusca, Bonap. Syn. p. 390.
Oidemia fusca, Velvet Duck, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v.
ii. p. 449.
Velvet Duck, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 419.
Velvet Duck, Fuligula fusca, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 354.