employed about their nests, which they begin to form about the end of May. They arrive there and on the coasts of Newfoundland about the first of that month. The eggs were of a dull greenish-white, and smooth, from six to ten in number. The nest was usually placed under the shelter of a low prostrate branched and dwarf fir*; and sometimes there were several under the same bush, within a foot or two of each other. The ground-work of the nests consisted of sea-weeds and moss, and the female did not add the down till the eggs were laid. The duck, having at this time acquired an attachment for her eggs, was easily approached, and her flight was even and rather slow. Audubon states that, as soon as incubation has commenced, the males leave the land and join together in large flocks out at sea: they begin to moult in July, and soon become so bare as to be scarcely able to rise from the water. By the 1st of August, according to the same author, scarcely an Eider Duck was to be seen on the coast of Labrador. The young, as soon as hatched, are led by the female to the water, where they remain, except at night and in stormy weather. Their greatest feathered enemy is the Saddlebacked Gull, or Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), which devours the eggs and young, but whose pursuit the young, after they have left the nest, elude by diving, at which both old and young are very expert. lows, to beat up the small crustaceans and mollusks, and diving in deeper water for the larger marine animals, among which muscles and other conchifers, turbinated testaceans, and occasionally sea-eggs (Echini) are said to be taken. Utility to Man.-The down above described is the principal tribute paid by the Eider Duck to man: but the Indian and Greenlander eat the flesh, which is dark and fishy, and their skin is converted into a warm inner garment. According to Sir W. E. Parry, the Esquimaux Indians catch these birds with springes made of whalebone, and take the eggs wherever they can find them. The skin, prepared with the feathers on, forms an article of commerce, particularly with the Chinese. M. Audubon is of opinion that if this valuable bird were domesticated, it would prove a great acquisition, both on account of its down, and its flesh as an article of food; and he is persuaded that very little attention would effect this. Indeed, it appears that the experiment was made at Eastport with success, but the greater number of the ducks were shot, being taken by gunners for wild birds. The same author says that, when in cap; tivity, it feeds on different kinds of grain and moistened corn-meal, when its flesh becomes excellent. Mr. Selby succeeded twice in rearing Eiders from the egg, and kept them alive upwards of a year, when they were accidentally killed. Oidemia. (Fleming.) Generic Character.-Bill, broad with dilated margins, and coarse lamelliform teeth, gibbous above the Nostrils, which are nearly mesial, large and elevated. Tail, of fourteen feathers. The Oidemic seek their food at sea principally; and have obtained the name of Surf Ducks, from frequenting its edge. The prevailing colour of the tribe is black in the male, and brown in the female. The plumage is very thick and close; and, according to Audubon, the down in the Velvet Duck (Oidemia fusca) is similar to that of the Eider Duck, and apparently of equal quality. Their flesh is high-flavoured and oily, according to Dr. Richardson, who gives that character to the flesh of three species, viz. Oidemic perspicillata, fusca, and nigra. The two former, according to that enterprising zoologist, breed on the Arctic coasts, migrate southward in company with Clangula (Harelda?) glacialis, halting both on the shores of Hudson's Bay and on the lakes of the interior, as long as they remain open, and then feed on tender shelly mollusca. Oidemia nigra, he adds, frequents the shores of Hudson's Bay, and breeds between the 50th and 60th parallels. It was not seen by Dr. Richardson and his companions in the interior. We select, as an example Oidemia perspicillata, Anas perspicillata of Linnæus, the Black or Surf Duck. This is the Macreuse à large bec ou Marchand and Canard Marchand of the French, the Black Duck of Pennant, and the Great Black Duck from Hudson's Bay of Edwards. Eider Duck, male and female. According to Brunnich and others, the male utters a hoarse and moaning cry at the pairing time, but the cry of the female is like that of the common duck. Both sexes assist in forming the nest, though the female only sits: but the male watches in the vicinity, and gives notice of the danger. This seems to be confirmed by the account given of the nesting-place at Vidöe. Sometimes two females deposit their eggs in the same nest, and sit amicably together. The Gulls are not their only enemies in addition to man, for the Ravens often suck their eggs and kill their young. At sea, several hatches congregate, led by the females, and there they may be seen splashing the water in the shalNuttall suggests that the fir was, probably, Pinus Banksiana Bill of Oidemia perspicillata. flexion. Throat brownish. A broad white band between Description.-Male, velvet black, with a reddish re the eyes, and a triangular patch of the same on the nape. Bill reddish orange, the nail paler; a square black spot on the lateral protuberance. Legs orange; webs brown. Bill much like that of the Velvet Duck (Oidemia fusca), but FUL the lateral protuberances are naked and horny, and the central one is feathered farther down. The lamina are distant, and the lower ones particularly prominent, with cutting edges. As in the other Oidemic, the bill and fore head are inflated, causing the head to appear lengthened and the crown depressed. The nostrils are rather large, and nearer to the point than to the rictus. Length 24 inches. (Dr. Richardson, from a bird killed at Fort Franklin.) Female and Young-Black ashy brown wherever the male is deep black. Head and neck lighter; frontal band and great angular space upon the nape indicated by very bright ashy brown. Lateral protuberances of the bill but little developed, and the whole bill of an ashy yellowish colour. Feet and toes brown; webs black. (Temminck.) Dr. Richardson observes that the under plumage in particular is paler, that the back and wing coverts are narrowly edged with grey, that the breast, flanks, and ears have some whitish edgings, that the bill is black, its base not so much inflated, and that the nostrils are smaller than in the male. Geographical Distribution.-Rare and accidental in the Orcades, and in the higher latitudes towards the pole; very rare in the cold and temperate countries bathed by the ocean; very common and numerous in America, at Hudson's and Baffin's Bays. Such is Temminck's account. Nuttall says that this species of duck, with other dark kinds commonly called on the other side of the Atlantic 'coots,' may be properly considered as an American species; its visits in the Orkneys and European seas being merely accidental. They breed on the Arctic coasts, and extend their residence to the opposite side of the continent, having been seen at Nootka Sound by Captain Cook. The bird is not mentioned in the notice of the animals which were met with during the period in which the expedition remained within the Arctic Circle, appended to Captain Sir W. E. Parry's First Voyage, nor in Captain James Ross's Appendix to Captain Sir John Ross's Last Voyage. The Prince of Musignano notes it as very common, and most abundant in the sea in the neighbourhood of the shore at Philadelphia. Habits, Reproduction, &c.-In summer the Surf Duck feeds principally in the sea, and haunts shallow estuaries, bars and bays, where it may be seen constantly diving for its shelly food. The surf is a favourite station with it. Hudson's Bay and Labrador are among its breeding places, and the nest is formed of grass with a lining of down or feathers on the borders of fresh-water ponds. The eggs are white, and from four to six in number. The young are hatched in July, and detained on the borders of the ponds, where they were excluded from the egg, until they are able to fly. Their migrations extend to Florida, but they often remain throughout the winter along the shores and open bays of the United States. At the end of April or early in May they again proceed northward. Utility to Man.-The flesh of the old birds is very dark, red, and fishy when dressed; the young are of better flavour. They are however often eaten by the inhabitants of the coasts frequented by them; and being difficult to approach, they are decoyed by means of a wooden figure of a duck of the same general appearance with themselves. FUL Fuligula. (Ray.) Generic Character.-Bill flat, broad, long, with hardly any gibbosity at the base, and rather dilated at the exthers, graduated laterally. First quill longest. tremity. Nostrils suboval, basal. Tail short, of 14 fea haunts of this genus. Dr. Richardson states that Fuligula The sea, and its bays and estuaries, are the principal parts of the fur countries, from the 50th parallel to their Valisneria, ferina, marila, and rufitorques, breed in ali most northern limits, and associate much on the water with the Anatina. Fuligula rubida, he remarks, frequents the small lakes of the interior up to the 58th parallel, and he adds that it is very unwilling to take wing, and dives remarkably well. In swimming, according to the same observer, it carries its tail erect, and, from the shortness of its neck, nearly as high as its head, which, at a little Canvass-back Duck, Fuligula Valisneria*, Anas Vulisneria distance, causes it to appear as if it had two heads. The of Wilson, may be selected as an illustration of the genus. male, killed on the Saskatchewan on the 3rd of May, 1827, Description. The following accurate description of a is given by Dr. Richardson in Fauna Boreali-Americana.' Colour.-Region of the bill, top of the head, chin, base of the neck, and adjoining parts of the breast and back, rump, upper and under tail-coverts, pitch-black; sides of the head and the neck reddish-orange; middle of the back, scapulars, wing-coverts, tips of the secondaries, tertiaries, flanks, posterior part of the belly and thighs, greyish-white, finely undulated with hair-brown; primaries and their coverts hair-brown, their tips darkest; secondaries ash-grey, tipped with white; the two adjoining tertiaries edged with black. Belly white, faintly undulated on the medial line. In some specimens the white parts are glossed with ferruginous. Bill and legs, blackish-brown. the depressed frontal angle longer, the nostrils farther Form.-Bill lengthened, from the front, and the unguis differently shaped and smaller than in Fuligula ferina (the Pochard); the upper lamine flat, cuneate, not prominent, and confined within Canvass-back approach somewhat to the form of the Pintail the margin of tne mandible. The bill and head of the throughout. Duck, being much lengthened, and of equal breadth First quill the longest. Length, 24 inches 6 lines. liver-brown: sides of the head, neck, and breast, ferrugiFemale.-Ground colour of the upper plumage and flanks edged with the same. Middle of the back and wing-coverts nous; shoulders, shorter scapulars, and under plumage, clove-brown, finely undulated with greyish-white. There and only a few on the tips of the scapulars. Bill as in the are no undulated markings on the tertiaries and secondaries, male; the neck more slender. (Dr. Richardson.) lina, are visited by some of these flocks; and it is stated | as he states, by no means shy, allowing a near approach to that they are abundant in the river Neuse, in the vicinity the sportsman; but at the flash of a gun or even at the of Newbern, and probably in most of the other southern twang of a bow, they dive so suddenly that they are seldom waters down to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, being seen killed. Hence the natives impute supernatural powers to in winter in the mild climate of New Orleans, at which them, as the appellations of Conjuring Ducks' and season a few pairs arrive in Massachusetts Bay, near Cohaset Spirit Ducks' sufficiently testify. Dr. Richardson says and St. Martha's Vineyard. But it is to Chesapeake Bay, that the manners of Clangula Barrovii (Richardson and its æstuaries and rivers, among which the Susquehanna, Swainson), described in Fauna Boreali-Americana,' and the Patapsco, James's River, and the Potomac, may be which has hitherto been found only in the valleys of the particularly mentioned, that the great multitude of Can- Rocky Mountains, do not differ from those of the Common vass-back Ducks resort.-(Wilson; Nuttall.) Golden Eye. He speaks of Clangula histrionica as haunting eddies under cascades and rapid streams, as very vigilant, taking wing at once when disturbed, as rare, and as never associating, as far as he saw, with any other bird. The high northern latitudes may be considered generally as the localities of this genus,* which we proceed to illustrate by Clangula albeola, Anas albeola of Linnæus, the Spirit Duck. Habits, Food, &c. The canvass-backs associate with the pochards, and are waited upon by the bald-pates or wigeons (Mareca Americana), which rob them in the manner described in the article DUCKS (vol. ix. p. 183). They are named in different parts of the Union white-backs and sheldrakes, as well as canvass-backs. Zostera marina and Ruppia maritima form their food, as well as the freshwater Valisneria, which last is limited in its distribution. The sea-wracks or eel-grass, as the long marine vegetables above alluded to are called in America, are widely spread over the Atlantic, and over the mud-flats, bays, and inlets where salt or brackish water finds access. The canvass-backs dive for and generally pluck up the sea-wrack, and feed only on the most tender portion near the root. They are very shy birds, and most difficult to be approached. Various stratagems are resorted to for getting within gunshot of them; and in severe winters artificial openings are made in the ice, to which the ducks crowd and fall a sacrifice to their eagerness to obtain food. That they will eat seeds and grain as well as sea-wrack, &c., was proved by the loss of a vessel loaded with wheat near the entrance of Great Egg Harbour, New Jersey, to which great flocks of canvassbacks were attracted. Upon this occasion as many as 240 were killed in one day. (Wilson; Nuttall.) Bill of Clangula albeola. Utility to Man.-The canvass-back, which is lean on its first arrival in the United States, becomes, in November, about three pounds in weight, and in high order for the table: there are few birds which grace the board better. Duck of Catesby; the Little black and white Duck of EdThis is the Buffel Duck of Pennant; the Buffel's Head The Prince of Musignano is eloquent in its praise: Carnewards; the Buffel-headed Duck of Wilson; Wakaisheedella massima squisitezza, grandemente ricercata dai gastronomi. La migliore delle Ånitre. Forse il miglior uccello weesheep, Waw haisheep, and Wappano-sheep of the Cree d'America. Any attempt to introduce the bird into Engand Chippeway Indians." land would, it is feared, prove a failure; for even if the ordinary difficulties should be got over, the absence of the food to which it is supposed to owe its exquisite flavour would render the success of the experiment very doubtful.* Fuliguia Vaiisneria. Clangula (Boié). Bill narrow, elevated at the base, somewhat attenuated at the anterior extremity, and short. Nostrils inclining to oval, submesial, or rather anterior to the middle of the bill. Tail rather long, of 16 feathers generally. Though many of this genus frequent the sea, the species are more generally met with in the fresh waters than the other Sea Ducks. Thus Dr. Richardson remarks that Clangula vulgaris (Common Golden Eye) and albeola (Spirit Duck) frequent the rivers and fresh-water lakes throughout the fur countries in great numbers. They are, The Western Duck (Fuligula Stelleri) has been elevated to a genus by Brehm under the name of Callicher. P. C., No. 659. Dr. Richardson thus describes a male and female killed on the Saskatchewan in May, 1827. Male.-Colour. Forehead, region of the bill, nuchal crest, and upper sides of the neck rich duck green, blending with the resplendent auricula-purple of the top of the head and throat. Broad band from the eye to the tip of the occipital crest, lower half of the neck, the shoulders, exterior scapulars, intermediate and greater coverts, outer webs of five or six secondaries, flanks, and under plnmage to the vent pure white. Back, long scapulars, and tertiaries velvet black; lesser coverts bordering the wing the same, edged with white; primaries and their coverts brownishblack. Tail-coverts blackish-grey; tail broccoli-brown. Vent and under tail-coverts greyish. Bill bluish-black. Legs yellowish. In many spring specimens the under plumage is ash grey. Form.-Bill smaller in proportion than that of the common Garrot, and the nostrils nearer the base; but otherwise similar. Head large, with the upper part of the neck clothed in velvety plumage, rising into a short thick crest. Wings two inches and a half shorter than the tail. Tail-lateral feathers graduated, three middle pairs even. Length sixteen inches; but individuals differ in size. Female. Considerably smaller. Head and dorsal plumage dark blackish-brown; the forepart of the back, scapulars, and tertiaries, edged with yellowish brown. Fore part of the neck, sides of the breast, flanks, and ventfeathers, blackish-grey; breast and belly white, glossed with brownish-orange. White band on the ears and occiput much narrower than in the male. The white speculum is less perfect, and the whole of the lesser coverts and scapulars are unspotted blackish-brown. Bill and feet brownish. Total length fourteen inches and a half. Young males resemble the females. ('Fauna BorealiAmericana.') The Common Golden Eye, or Garrot (Clangula vulgaris, Anas Clangula, Linn.) is an inhabitant of the Arctic regions of the new and old worlds, and fre quently met with in this country, and in Europe generally. The species is distributed over the Swiss lakes. Mr. Gould figures Clangula Barrovii aud Clangula histrionica among the Birds of Europe, the former having been shot in Iceland by T. C. Atkinson, Esq., and the latter having been frequently captured in the British Islands, VOL. XI.-C Geographical Distribution.-Abundant in the summer on the rivers and fresh-water lakes of the fur countries. In autumn and winter very common in the United States, sometimes on the sea-shores. Catesby says that the Buffel's Head Duck appears in Carolina during the winter only. On the river Neuse, in North Carolina, they have been seen in abundance in February. In April and May those in the south take their departure northward. Habits. Food, Re-production.-This species is a most expert diver, whether it resorts to that feat as a mode of escape, or as the means of procuring the sea-wrack and laver (Ulva lactuca), and crustaceans and mollusks, which, at particular seasons of the year when it visits the sea bays and salt marshes, form its favourite food. The rapidity of its disappearance from the surface, and the artful way in which it conceals itself after it has vanished under water, have earned for it the appropriate name of Spirit Duck,' or Conjurer. A bird is rarely hit, and when it is, if not killed outright, it can rarely be captured; so quick is the Spirit Duck in avoiding the shot altogether, and so dexterous in evading its pursuer, if only wounded. About Hudson's Bay they are said to form their nests in hollow trees in woods adjacent to water. (Wilson; Nuttall). 6 Utility to Man -The flesh of the Spirit Duck is not in high repute, but the females and young are tender and well-flavoured in the winter. The bird becomes so fat that, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it is commonly called 'Butter-Box,' or ' Butter-Ball.' Clangula albeola, male and female. Harelda. (Leach). Generic Character.-Bill very short, high at the base, nail broad and arched. Lamina prominent, trenchant, and distant; the upper lamina projecting below the margin of the mandible, the lower lamina divided into a nearly equal double series. Nostrils oblong, large, and nearly basal. Forehead high; neck rather thick. Tail very long, of fourteen feathers. Toes short. Example, Harelda glacialis, Anas glacialis, Linn., the Long-tailed Duck. Bill of Harelda glacialis. This is the Canard à longue Queue, ou Canard de Miclon of the French; Eisente, Winter Ente of the Germans; Ungle, Angeltaske, Trasfoener of the Norwegians; Oedel of the Feroe Islanders; Ha-Old, Ha-Ella of the Icelanders; Swallow-tailed Sheldrake, Sharp-tailed Duck, Calao, Calaw, Coal and Candle Light of the modern British. Huyad gynffon gwennol of the antient British; Old Wife and Swallow-tailed Duck of the Hudson's Bay residents; South-Southerly of the United States; Aldiggee-areoo of the Esquimaux; Caccàwee of the Canadian voyageurs ; and Hahhaway of the Cree Indians. Description.-Old Male (Winter). Summit of the head, nape, front, and lower parts of the neck, long scapulars, belly, abdomen, and lateral tail-feathers, pure white; cheeks and throat ash-colour; a great space of maroon-brown on the sides of the neck; breast, back, rump, wings, and the two long feathers of the middle of the tail brownish; flanks ash-coloured; the black of the bill cut transversely by a red band; tarsi and toes yellow; webs blackish; iris orange. Length, comprising the long tail-feathers, twenty to twentyone inches. Old Female.-Differing much from the male. Tail short, the feathers bordered with white and the two middle ones not elongated; forehead, throat, and eyebrows whitish ash; nape, front, and lower part of the neck, belly, and abdomen pure white; top of the head and great space at the sides of the neck blackish ash; breast variegated with ash-colour and brown; feathers of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts black in the middle, bordered and terminated with ashyred; rest of the other parts brown; the bluish colour of the bill cut by a yellowish band; iris bright brown; feet leadcolour. Length 16 inches. Young of the Year.-Not differing much from the old female; the whiteness of the face is varied with numerous brown or ash-coloured spots; throat, front of the neck, and nape ashy-brown; lower part of the neck, a large spot behind the eyes, belly, and abdomen white; breast and thighs variegated with brown and ash-coloured spots. (Temminck.) Summer Dress.-Male, killed May 1, 1826, on the Saskatchewan. Colour.-The whole upper plumage, the two central pairs of tail feathers, and the under plumage to the fore part of the belly brownish-black; the lesser quills paler. A triangular patch of the feathers between the shoulders, and the scapulars, broadly bordered with orange-brown. Sides of the head from the bill to the ears ash-grey; eye-stripe and posterior under plumage pure white. Flanks, sides of the rump, and lateral tail-feathers white, stained with brown; axillaries and inner wing-coverts clove-brown. Bill black, with an orange belt before the nostrils. Legs darkbrown. Specimens killed a fortnight or three weeks later in the season at Bear Lake, on their way to the breedingplaces, differed in having a large white patch on the hind head and occiput, with scattered white feathers on the neck and among the scapulars; the sides under the wings pure pearl grey, and the sides of the rump unstained white. (Dr. Richardson, Fauna Boreali-Americana.') Captain, now Major, Edward Sabine (Supplement to Appendix of Captain Sir W. E. Parry's First Voyage) notices a male obtained in June, corresponding precisely with the | as far as words can express a subject so uncouth, it resemindividual killed in Baffin's Bay in the summer of 1818, bles the guttural syllables ogh, ough, egh, and then ogh, which furnished the description of the full breeding plum- ogh, ogh, ough, egh, given in a ludicrous drawling tone; age in the Memoir of the Greenland Birds.' An account, but still, with all the accompaniments of scene and season, adds the author, of this state of plumage is yet wanting to this humble harbinger of spring, obeying the feelings of complete the history of this species in M. Temminck's nature, and pouring forth his final ditty before his de arsecond edition, The plumage of a young male killed on ture to the distant north, conspires, with the novelty of the the 22nd of June corresponded precisely with M. Tem- call, to please rather than disgust those happy few who may minck's male of one or two years old. Dr. Richardson he willing to find "good in everything." observes (loc. cit.) that Captain Sabine describes the plum- Utility to Man.-The old birds are not considered as of age of the specimens killed at Bear Lake as the pure much value for the table; but the young birds are tender breeding plumage; but individuals coloured like the one and juicy. If, as is on good authority asserted, the down killed on the Saskatchewan are, he remarks, often seen at which the Long-tailed Duck strips from its breast as a the breeding stations. He quotes Mr. Edwards, surgeon lining for the nest is as soft and elastic as that of the Eider of the Fury (Sir W. E. Parry's 2nd Voyage), as describing Duck, it may considered as offering no mean contribution the Long-tailed Ducks killed at Melville Peninsula between to the comforts of man, a contribution which, however apthe 1st and 25th of June as follows:-They had all a dark parently hitherto neglected, deserves the attention of the silky chestnut-brown patch on the side of the neck; a intelligent and enterprising. mixture of white in the black stripe from the bill to the crown; the crown and nape either entirely white, or mixed with black; scapulars and upper tail-coverts edged with white; a broad white collar round the lower part of the neck, in some individuals tipped with black or brown; occasionally a white band on the breat. The colour of the belt on the bill varied from rose-red to violet. Mature Female, killed May 25, lat. 65°. Upper plumage and sides of the breast pale liver-brown, with dark centres; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and hinder parts mostly edged with white. Top of the head blackish-brown, its sides anteriorly broccoli-brown; ears and base of the neck below clove-brown. A spot at the base of the bill and a stripe behind the eye white. Throat and collar ash-grey. Tailfeathers brownish-grey, edged with white, short and worn. (Dr. Richardson.) Geographical Distribution,-The Arctic seas of both worlds. An accidental visitor on the great lakes of Germany, and along the Baltic. Often, but never in flocks, on the maritime coasts of Holland. (Temminck.) Abundant in Sweden, Lapland, and Russia. (Gould.) Noted in the list of birds seen within the Arctic Circle and as breeding in the North Georgian Islands, but not common there. (Supplement to Appendix to Captain Parry's First Voyage.) Females taken in Duke of York's Bay. (Captain Lyon's Journal.) Abundant on the Arctic Sea, associating with the Oidemia, remaining in the north as long as it can find open water, and assembling in very large flocks before migrating. Halts, during its progress southwards, both on the shores of the Hudson's Bay and in the inland lakes, and is one of the last of the birds of passage which quits the fur countries. (Dr. Richardson, Fauna BorealiAmericana.') Captain James Ross describes it as the most noisy and most numerous of the ducks that visit the shores of Boothia. (Appendix to Captain Sir John Ross's Last Voyage.) The species is abundant in Greenland, Lapland, Russia, and Kamtchatka, and flocks pass the winter (from October to April) at the Orkney Islands. They are seldom seen in the southern parts of England, unless the weather be very severe. In October they visit the United States, and abound in Chesapeake Bay. 6 Habits, Food, Reproduction, &c.-Lively, most noisy, and gregarious, the Long-tailed Duck, with its swallow-like appearance in flight, swims and dives with all the expertness of the Spirit Ducks. Dr. Richardson states that in the latter end of August, when a thin crust of ice forms during the night on the Arctic Sea, the female may be often seen breaking a way with her wings for her young brood. The same author states that the eggs are pale greenish-grey, with both ends rather obtuse, 26 lines long and 18 wide. They are about five in number; and in Spitzbergen, Iceland, and along the grassy shores of Hudson's Bay, near the sea, this species is said to form its nest, about the middle of June, lining the interior with the down of the breast. Marine productions principally, both animal and vegetable, form its food, particularly the Zostera, or Grass-wrack, for which it dives like others of its congeners. 'Late in the evening, or early in the morning,' writes Nuttall in his Manual, towards spring more particularly, vast flocks are seen in the bays and sheltered inlets, and in calm and foggy weather we hear the loud and blended nasal call reiterated for hours from the motley multitude. There is something in the sound like the honk of the goose, and, Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada,' 2 vols., Bro., Boston, A most useful and interesting book, Harelda glacialis: male and female. In addition to the genera above-mentioned, Gymnura (Oxyura of Bonaparte), Macropus, and Micropterus find a place among the Sea Ducks. The species from which the genus Oxyura is established is bred, according to Nuttall (Manual'), in the north, and principally haunts fresh-water lakes, diving and swimming with great ease, but it is averse to rising into the air. It is small, and is said, by the last-named author, to be nearly allied to Anas leucocephala, which inhabits the saline lakes and inland seas of Siberia, Russia, and the east of Europe; and also to have an affinity with A. Jamaicensis of Latham. Nuttall thinks that it is perhaps identical with A. spinosa of Guiana, if not also with A. Dominica of Gmelin, a native of St. Domingo, and probably only resident there during the winter. He also observes that the name of Oxyura having been previously employed for a sub-genus of Creepers, it was necessary to alter it; but the student should remember that Gymnura had been preoccupied by Sir Stamford Raffles for a genus of mammifers; and that Spix has named a family of South American monkeys Gymnuri. The Prince of Musignano, however, corrected |