| Camptorhynchus
labradorius |
HOME |
| |
| Kingdom |
Animalia
(animals) |
Labrador
Duck by Louis Agassiz Fuertes in 1922-1926, chromolithograph after
painting. Male (left), juvenile male (center), adult female (right). This
image is in the public
domain because its copyright has expired. This
applies to the European Union, Canada, the United States and those
countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
|
| Phylum |
Chordata (chordates) |
| Class |
Aves (birds) |
| Order |
Anseriformes (waterfowl) |
| Family |
Anatidae (ducks, geese, and swans) |
| Authority |
(Gmelin, 1789) |
| |
| English
Name |
Labrador Duck |
| Dutch
Name |
Labradoreend |
| French
Name |
Eider
du Labrador, Canard du Labrador |
| German
Name |
Labradorente |
| Spanish Name |
Pato
del Labrador |
| |
| Characteristics |
The
male's bill of this shy bird species was nearly as long as the head,
rather broader than high at the base, the sides nearly parallel, but at
the end enlarged by soft membranous expansions to the upper
mandible. The head was of moderate size, oblong, and compressed with small eyes.
Their neck was rather short and thick. The body of the Labrador duck was
full and depressed. The feet were very short, strong and placed rather far
behind. This bird's plumage was dense, soft and blended. It had small
feathers of the head and neck. The tail was very short, much rounded, and
made of fourteen tapering feathers. The bill's colour was pale greyish-blue and the sides of the base, and the
edges of both mandibles were dull pale orange, the rest of the bill was
black. Their iris was reddish-hazel. The feet light greyish-blue, webs and
claws dusky. The head and upper half of neck white, excepting an elongated
black patch on the top of the head and nape. Below the middle of the neck
is a black ring, from the hind part of which proceeds a longitudinal band
of the same colour, gradually becoming wider on the back and rump; below
the black ring anteriorly is a broad band of white, passing backwards on
each side so as to include the scapulars. All the under parts were black,
excepting the axillaries and lower wing-coverts. Upper wing-coverts and
secondary quills were white and some of the inner quills with a narrow
external black margin. The tail was brownish-black, tinged with grey, the
shafts black; upper tail-coverts dusky, minutely dotted with
reddish-brown. The Labrador Duck's length to end of tail was 20 inches, to
end of claws 22 1/2, to end of wings 18 1/4; extent of wings 30; wing from
flexure 9 1/4; tail 3 5/8; bill along the ridge 1 3/4, along the edge of
lower mandible 2 3/8; tarsus 1 1/2; middle toe 2 3/8, its claw 3/8; hind
toe 4 (1/2)/8, its claw (1 1/2)/8; outer toe and claw slightly longer than
middle; inner toe 1 7/8, its claw (2 1/2)/8. Weight 1 lb. 14 1/2 oz.
The
female is less than the male. The bill, iris, and feet are coloured as in
the male; sides of the forehead white The general colour is
brownish-grey, darker on the head, cheeks, back, rump, and abdomen, of a
lighter tint, approaching to ash-grey, on the throat, breast,
wing-coverts, and inner secondaries, which are margined externally with
black; seven or eight of the secondary quills white; the primaries and
tall-feathers as in the male. Length to end of tail 18 1/4 inches, to end
of claws 19 3/8, to end of wings 17; extent of wings 29; wing from flexure
9; tail 3 1/2; bill along the ridge 1 5/8, along the edge of lower
mandible 2 1/8; tarsus 1 1/2; hind toe and claw middle toe and claw 2 1/2.
Weight 1 lb. 1 oz. |
| |
| Range
& Habitat |
This
migratory bird probably bred along the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Coastal
Labrador, Canada. In the winter Labrador Duck migrated south to the coasts
of New England, New Jersey and Long Island, it could than be found from
Nova Scotia south to Chesapeake Bay, USA. These birds could be found in
sandy sheltered bays, inlets, harbours, and estuaries and on sandbars. |
| |
| Food |
Its
peculiar beak suggests that it had specialized feeding habits and probably
lived on small snails. Its beak was very soft and probably very sensitive.
Maybe this duck used its beak to search for food on the bottom. Fishermen
have reported that they sometimes caught a Labrador Duck when they used
mussels as bait. |
| |
| Reproduction |
The
name of the Labrador Duck refers to the alleged breeding area, the
Labrador district on the northeast coast of Canada, although neither nests
nor eggs have ever identified there with certainty. There is a report of a
nest of the Labrador Duck on Labrador from the son of John James Audubon,
who’s name was John too. However there is still much discussion on where
the breeding grounds exactly were. It has therefore been suggested that
the breeding grounds may have been further north or perhaps on isolated
islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. |
| |
| History
& Population |
The
Labrador duck was apparently rare, even at the time of its discovery. The
numbers of this rare species decreased further between 1850 and 1870. The
last record of a Labrador Duck was a male that was caught in the autumn of
1875 in the waters near Long Island, New York. This specimen is now in the
United States National Museum in Washington and has the number 77126.
Another duck was said to have been shot three years later, on 2 December
1878 near Elmira, New York. However, this cannot be verified, since the
specimen is lost. |
| |
| Extinction
Causes |
The
causes of extinction of this sea duck are not exactly known. Like any
other waterfowl, it was occasionally hunted, and even offered for sale at
the meat markets of New York and Baltimore, despite the unappetizing
taste. Shooting and trapping on the winter quarters were certainly
proximate factors in the species’ extinction. Overharvest of birds and
eggs on the breeding grounds could also have been a factor. Another cause
can be the increasing human influence on the coastal ecosystems of eastern
North America. That may have caused a change in the molluscan fauna, which
eventually may have been fatal to this small duck. |
| |
| Museum
Specimens |
Worldwide,
54 specimens of the Labrador Duck are preserved in museum collections. The
largest series counts 10 specimens and is preserved in the American Museum
of Natural History in New York. The National
Museum of Natural History ‘Naturalis’ in Leiden, the Netherlands,
possesses a male and a female. The German naturalist Prinz Maximilian von
Wied zu Neuwied, who travelled through the Americas in the beginning of
the 19th century, collected these two Labrador Ducks. The pair came to
Leiden in 1863, probably as part of an exchange with the Naturhistorisches
Museum in Vienna, Austria. The Naturhistorisches
Museum in Vienna has still one male in its collection.
Other specimens can be found in the United Stated National Museum in
Washington. And the only preserved eggs can be found in a museum in
Germany.
Photos:
male Labrador duck (left) and female Labrador duck (right) from the
American Museum of Natural History, New York. Photographed by Stavenn. These
images have been released under
the Creative
Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Licence (source
male, source
female).
|
| |
| Relatives |
The
Labrador duck was the only species of the genus Camptorhynchus. |
| |
| Links |
IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species - Camptorhynchus labradorius
300
Pearls - Museum highlights of natural diversity
Pied
Duck
Camptorhynchus
labradorius - Eider du Labrador (Canard du Labrador)
(French)
Natuurinformatie
- Labradoreend (Dutch)
|
|
Last
updated: 4th June 2008.
This
page is a part of The
Extinction Website.
© 2000-2009. |
