Forest and stream . ble to identity it from my description, althoughprofessing their ability to do so if they could see a bird, evidently belongs to the scaup tribe, and I haveabundant reason to think that I cannot possibly be mistakenabout its former existence. To make my description per-fectly clear, I will begin by stating the well-known fact thatthe bluebills are very light colored on the back, nearly asmuch so as the canvasback (I am confining my remarks tothe males in this description), while the ringneck (F. col-laris) has the back a very dark brown, nearly black. Well,mv g
Forest and stream . ble to identity it from my description, althoughprofessing their ability to do so if they could see a bird, evidently belongs to the scaup tribe, and I haveabundant reason to think that I cannot possibly be mistakenabout its former existence. To make my description per-fectly clear, I will begin by stating the well-known fact thatthe bluebills are very light colored on the back, nearly asmuch so as the canvasback (I am confining my remarks tothe males in this description), while the ringneck (F. col-laris) has the back a very dark brown, nearly black. Well,mv great unknown has the size, shape and color of cvllarismeverything except the bill. My recollection is that the eyesare not so bright a yellow either. Premising that I am avery poor draughtsman, and that I draw from memory, Isubmit the following crude outlines of the bills of the three species, representing them as if seen from above. The nos-trils are not 1 is intended to represent he bluebills3 bill, the. whole being a light bluish lead color, except the nail whichis black. Fig. 2 belongs to the ringneck, in which the baseand tip are black, and the center bluish lead color, with twonarrow, pure white bands extending clear across, separatingblack from lead color. It will be noticed that the bill isnearly straight along the sides, not widening near as muchas the bluebills. Fig. 3 gives a faint idea of the unnamedduck. In this case the bill widens toward the tip, not quiteas much as the first, yet more than the ringnecks, but in-stead of being pale blue in color it is black, except four littleill-defined spots, which are bluish white, shading off intothe general black. Now that is as good a description as Ican give from memory. I have handled a good many, alsokilled them myself, both male and female, both spring andfall, so it is not a variation due to sex or season. The lastone I ever saw was one I shot in the spring ot 1876. Sincethen, as before stated, I have failed
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectf, booksubjecthunting
