The trachea, 10 1/2 inches long, has at first a diameter of 4 twelfths, dilates gradually to 8 twelfths, then contracts to 4 twelfths, enlarges a second time to 7 twelfths, and gradually contracts to 3 twelfths. In this space the rings, 146, are strong, broad, and osseous. At its lower part is an enormous dilatation composed of numerous united rings, bulging irregularly on the right side and behind, and on the left expanded into a case having two large spaces filled by membrane; the greatest diameter of this tympanum is 2 inches and 2 twelfths. The bronchi come off at the distance of nearly an inch from each other, and are short, but wide, with about 25 half-rings. The lateral or contractor muscles are very strong, give off a pair of cleido-tracheals from the second enlargement, and at the commencement of the labyrinth the sterno-tracheals, which are also very large; but there are no other inferior laryngeal muscles.
The intestine of a male in the first winter is 6 feet 8 inches long, its greatest diameter half an inch, wider towards the rectum than at the upper part, where the diameter is 4 twelfths. Rectum 4 1/2 inches long, exclusive of the cloaca. Cœca 2 1/4 inches. Contents of stomach, remains of fishes and a great quantity of quartz fragments.
An adult Female. Œsophagus 10 1/2 inches long; stomach 2 inches long; intestine 5 feet 3 inches; rectum 4 1/2; cœca 2 2/12. The trachea 9 inches long, of uniform diameter, 4 twelfths, with a very slight dilatation toward the lower part, and at the lower larynx contracted to 3 twelfths; the last ring is very large, laterally dilated, but symmetrical; the bronchi come off at the distance of 5 twelfths from each other, and are composed of 25 rings. The tracheal rings 150.
With respect to their digestive organs, the Mergansers are perhaps more allied to the Divers than to the Ducks. In this, as in other respects, they seem to be placed on the limits of the two families.
PIED DUCK.
Fuligula labradora, Gmel.
PLATE CCCXXXII. Male and Female.
Although no birds of this species occurred to me when I was in Labrador, my son, John Woodhouse, and the young friends who accompanied him on the 28th of July 1833 to Blanc Sablon, found, placed on the top of the low tangled fir-bushes, several deserted nests, which from the report of the English clerk of the fishing establishment there, we learned to belong to the Pied Duck. They had much the appearance of those of the Eider Duck, being very large, formed externally of fir twigs, internally of dried grass, and lined with down. It would thus seem that the Pied Duck breeds earlier than most of its tribe. It is surprising that this species is not mentioned by Dr Richardson in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, as it is a very hardy bird, and is met with along the coasts of Nova Scotia, Maine, and Massachusetts, during the most severe cold of winter. My friend Professor MacCulloch of Pictou has procured several in his immediate neighbourhood; and the Honourable Daniel Webster of Boston sent me a fine pair killed by himself, on the Vineyard Islands, on the coast of Massachusetts, from which I made the drawing for the plate before you. The female has not, I believe, been hitherto figured; yet the one represented was not an old bird.
The range of this species along our shores does not extend farther southward than Chesapeake Bay, where I have seen some near the influx of the St James River. I have also met with several in the Baltimore market. Along the coast of New Jersey and Long Island it occurs in greater or less number every year. It also at times enters the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, and ascends that stream at least as far as Philadelphia. A bird-stuffer whom I knew at Camden had many fine specimens, all of which he had procured by baiting fish-hooks with the common mussel, on a “trot-line” sunk a few feet beneath the surface, but on which he never found one alive, on account of the manner in which these Ducks dive and flounder when securely hooked. All the specimens which I saw with this person, male and female, were in perfect plumage; and I have not enjoyed opportunities of seeing the changes which this species undergoes.
The Pied Duck seems to be a truly marine bird, seldom entering rivers unless urged by stress of weather. It procures its food by diving amidst the rolling surf over sand or mud bars; although at times it comes along the shore, and searches in the manner of the Spoonbill Duck. Its usual fare consists of small shell-fish, fry, and various kinds of sea-weeds, along with which it swallows much sand and gravel. Its flight is swift, and its wings emit a whistling sound. It is usually seen in flocks of from seven to ten, probably the members of one family.
Anas labradora, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 859.