This depiction of a Bahama duck is taken from
one of the most important early works on the natural
history of North America, The Natural History of
Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands by Mark
Catesby. A copy of the two-volume work, published
in 1731 and 1743, is in the Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation collection. It contains 220 copperplate
engravings of plants, birds, fish, insects, snakes, and
other forms of natural life with accompanying: text.
Catesbv was one of several eighteenth-century individuals who ventured to remote or unknown areas of the world to collect and record information
in the interest of advancing knowledge in the arts
and sciences. He made two trips to North America,
one to Virginia in 1712 and another between 1722
and 1726 to document the natural history of the
Caroiinas, Georgia, and the Bahama Islands.

Of the Bahama Duck Catesby said, "These
Birds frequent the Bahama Islands, but are not
numerous, I never having seen but one, which was a Drake."