Length eighteen or twenty inches.
Male (the Drake, as the male of all Ducks is called): upper parts velvety black, shining with bronzy, purplish, greenish, and violet tints.
Under parts rich purplish-chestnut on the breast, which is marked with chains of white spots like polka-dots; belly white; a white band on each side of the breast in front of the wing; the sides further back tan color with fine wavy black lines, and still further back distinctly banded crosswise with black and white.
Head beautifully crested and banded with white and the shining dark colors of the back; bill prettily tinted with pink, lake-red, and black; eyes red; feet orange.
Female and young: much more plainly dressed than the male, but enough like him not to be mistaken. A Citizen of North America, who lives in the woods, unlike most other Ducks, and nests in a hole in a tree, like a Woodpecker—but it has to be a much larger, natural hollow. This beautiful Duck is not very plentiful now, and should not be shot for the table, though its meat is excellent. It is by far the handsomest of its tribe, and is sometimes kept in cages for its beauty.
The Black Duck
Length twenty or twenty-two inches.
Male and female (Drake and Duck) alike, which is the exception to the rule in this family.
Plumage all over mottled and streaky with dusky shades and buff or tan colors, except the beauty-spot or mirror on the wing, which is shining purple with a black border—almost all Ducks have such a spot, which is called a mirror because it reflects many glittering hues in different lights. There is no white on the outside of the wings of this Duck, and you can tell it from the female Mallard by this character; but the lining of the wings is mostly white.
A Citizen of eastern North America, common along the Atlantic coast from Florida to Labrador. It nests on the ground, like most Ducks, and is one of the best for the table.