"Bernicla nigricans. Black Brant. Bill, feet, and claws black; iris brown. Head and neck all around, and a little of fore part of body, glossy-black, well defined against the color of the breast; on each side of the neck a small patch of white streaks; frequently also white touches on eyelids and chin. Breast ashy-gray, abruptly from the black, fading on the belly and crissum into white, shaded along the sides of the body; upper parts brownish-gray, the feathers of the dorsal region with paler gray tips; rump darker; upper tail-coverts white. Tail-feathers, wing-quills, and primary-coverts blackish, the inner quills whitish toward base." Elliot Coues, 1884

Black Brant Head

"Bernicla nigricans. Black Brant. Bill, feet, and claws black; iris brown. Head and neck all around,…

"Bernicla nigricans. Black Brant. Bill, feet, and claws black; iris brown. Head and neck all around, and a little of fore part of body, glossy-black, well defined against the color of the breast; on each side of the neck a small patch of white streaks; frequently also white touches on eyelids and chin. Breast ashy-gray, abruptly from the black, fading on the belly and crissum into white, shaded along the sides of the body; upper parts brownish-gray, the feathers of the dorsal region with paler gray tips; rump darker; upper tail-coverts white. Tail-feathers, wing-quills, and primary-coverts blackish, the inner quills whitish toward base." Elliot Coues, 1884

Black Brant

"Bernicla nigricans. Black Brant. Bill, feet, and claws black; iris brown. Head and neck all around,…

"Fuligula vallisneria. Canvas-back. Adult male: The head close-feathered. Bill high at the base and narrow throughout or scarcely widened toward end, sloping gradually up to the top of the head in line with the sweep of the forehead, altogether somewhat like a goose's in shape; decidedly longer than head, 2 &1/2 inches to nearly or quite 3 in length, measured along the culmen; the nostrils reaching the middle of the bill, their fore end half-way from the upper corner to end of bill. Bill not blue, black-belted, but blackish throughout. Eyes red. Feet grayish-blue. Head and upper neck not coppery brownish-red, but dark reddish-brown, further much obscured with dusky or quite blackish about the bill and on top. Ground color of back white, very finely vermiculated with zigzag blackish bars much narrower than the intervening spaces, and tending to break up, or mostly broken up, into little chains or dots across the feathers; the resulting silvery-gray tone consequently several shades lighter than in the red-head." Elliot Coues, 1884

Canvas-back Head

"Fuligula vallisneria. Canvas-back. Adult male: The head close-feathered. Bill high at the base and…

"Fuligula vallisneria. Canvas-back. Adult male: The head close-feathered. Bill high at the base and narrow throughout or scarcely widened toward end, sloping gradually up to the top of the head in line with the sweep of the forehead, altogether somewhat like a goose's in shape; decidedly longer than head, 2 &1/2 inches to nearly or quite 3 in length, measured along the culmen; the nostrils reaching the middle of the bill, their fore end half-way from the upper corner to end of bill. Bill not blue, black-belted, but blackish throughout. Eyes red. Feet grayish-blue. Head and upper neck not coppery brownish-red, but dark reddish-brown, further much obscured with dusky or quite blackish about the bill and on top. Ground color of back white, very finely vermiculated with zigzag blackish bars much narrower than the intervening spaces, and tending to break up, or mostly broken up, into little chains or dots across the feathers; the resulting silvery-gray tone consequently several shades lighter than in the red-head." Elliot Coues, 1884

Large Canvas-backs Head

"Fuligula vallisneria. Canvas-back. Adult male: The head close-feathered. Bill high at the base and…

"Fuligula vallisneria. Canvas-back. Adult male: The head close-feathered. Bill high at the base and narrow throughout or scarcely widened toward end, sloping gradually up to the top of the head in line with the sweep of the forehead, altogether somewhat like a goose's in shape; decidedly longer than head, 2 &1/2 inches to nearly or quite 3 in length, measured along the culmen; the nostrils reaching the middle of the bill, their fore end half-way from the upper corner to end of bill. Bill not blue, black-belted, but blackish throughout. Eyes red. Feet grayish-blue. Head and upper neck not coppery brownish-red, but dark reddish-brown, further much obscured with dusky or quite blackish about the bill and on top. Ground color of back white, very finely vermiculated with zigzag blackish bars much narrower than the intervening spaces, and tending to break up, or mostly broken up, into little chains or dots across the feathers; the resulting silvery-gray tone consequently several shades lighter than in the red-head." Elliot Coues, 1884

Canvas-backs

"Fuligula vallisneria. Canvas-back. Adult male: The head close-feathered. Bill high at the base and…

"The scaup (<em>Fuliguia mariula</em>) is a winter visitor to the United States and Southern Europe. Its food consists of marine animals and plants."&mdash;Finley, 1917

Scaup Duck

"The scaup (Fuliguia mariula) is a winter visitor to the United States and Southern Europe.…

"Aix sponsa. Wood Duck. Summer Duck. "The Bride." Adult Male: Bill pinkish-white, with lake-red base, black ridge, tip, and under mandible; iris and edges of eyelids red; feet orange, with black claws. Upper part of the head, including crest, glistening green and purple; a narrow white line over eye from bill to occiput, and another behind eye to nape, these white lines mixing in the crest. A broad white patch on the throat, forking behind, one branch mounting head behind eye, the other passing to side of neck. Sides and front of lower neck and fore breast rich purplish-chestnut, prettily marked with several chain of angular white spots. A large white black-edged crescent of enlarged feathers in front of the wing. Under parts pure white, the sides yellowish-gray vermiculated with black and white wavy bars; the enlarged flank-feathers broadly rayed with black and white; the lining of the wings white barred with grayish-brown, of which color is the crissum. Upper parts generally lustrous with bronzy-green and purple; scapulars and inner secondaries velvet-black, glassed with purple and green; a green speculum, succeeded by white tips of the secondaries; primaries frosted on outer webs near end. Adult female: Little or no crest, but lengthened feathers on nape; no enlargement or special colorings of feathers about the wings. Bill dusky: feet yellowish-dusky. Head and neck gray, darker on crown, the chin and parts about bill and eyes white. Fore neck, breast and sides of body yellowish-brown, mottled with dark gray, the breast spotted with brown, the belly white. Upper parts dark brown with considerable gloss; wings as in the male, but the velvety-black reduced." Elliot Coues, 1884

Wood Duck

"Aix sponsa. Wood Duck. Summer Duck. "The Bride." Adult Male: Bill pinkish-white, with lake-red base,…

"Egyptian noble hunting waterfowl on the Nile with the "throwstick' (a boomerang). The birds rise from a group of papyrus reeds, -- Egyptian relief; after Maspero." -West 1904

Egyptian Noble Hunting Waterfowl

"Egyptian noble hunting waterfowl on the Nile with the "throwstick' (a boomerang). The birds rise from…

Waterfowl is a common term used to describe birds that frequent marshes and lakes.

Water Fowl

Waterfowl is a common term used to describe birds that frequent marshes and lakes.

"Larus ichthyaetus, the Great Black-headed Gull, ranging from the Black Sea and the Levant to Tibet, and wintering in Southern Asia, has the bill almost orange." A. H. Evans, 1900. The adults have a black hood, grey wings and back, and white wing tips.

Great Black-Headed Gull

"Larus ichthyaetus, the Great Black-headed Gull, ranging from the Black Sea and the Levant to Tibet,…

Tadorna cornuta, the Sheld-Drake or Bargander, ...shews a white collar on the lower neck followed by a broad chestnut band; blackish outer scapulars, remiges, and the tip of a tail; a patch of chestnut on the inner secondaries, a green speculum, and a brown line down the under parts, the remaining portions being white." A. H. Evans, 1900

Shelduck

Tadorna cornuta, the Sheld-Drake or Bargander, ...shews a white collar on the lower neck followed by…

"Cygnus columbianus. Common American Swan. Whistling Swan. Bill with a yellow spot or blotch in front of eye, usually small, sometimes wanting. Bill less lengthened and expanded terminally than in C. buccinator, the nostrils across the middle; the distance from the anterior angle of the eye to the hind edge of the nostril more than thence to the end of the bill. Tail-feathers normally 20." Elliot Coues, 1884

Whistling Swan

"Cygnus columbianus. Common American Swan. Whistling Swan. Bill with a yellow spot or blotch in front…