TUFTED DUCK (PLATE CCXXXIV)

Ring-necked Duck, "Aythya collaris" JWTM 31 very good impression, finger marks in the lower margin 13 7/8 by 17 5/8 in.; 353 by 448 mm. Based on a composition painted November 27, 1821 in New Orleans. Audubon considered this one of the tastiest of wild ducks- -and also one of the greediest: "A male which I shot near Louisville, exhibited a protuberance of the neck so very remarkable as to induce me to cut the skin, when I found a frog, the body of which was nearly two inches long, and which had almost choked the bird, as it allowed me to go up within a dozen or fifteen paces before I took aim.".