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. PIED DUCK, ANAS LABRADORA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. viii. p. 91, pl. 69, fig. 6. male. FULIGULA LABRADORA, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 391.