[6][7] It derives from birds brought to the United States from China in the nineteenth century,[8] and is now bred in many parts of the world.

[8] In 1872, James E. Palmer of Stonington, Connecticut, loaded fifteen white ducks of this type for shipment to a businessman named McGrath in the United States.

Palmer's four birds became the foundation stock of the American Pekin; by July 1873, his three hens had laid more than three hundred eggs.

[15] The Pekin was included in the first edition of the Standard of Perfection, published in 1874 by the new American Poultry Association.

[2]: 92  Until that time the duck most commonly raised for meat had been the Cayuga, which had the disadvantage of dark feathering, so that any fluff remaining on the carcass was easily seen; the white-feathered Pekin was preferable.

[15] Other birds of the same type were imported to the United Kingdom in 1872 and from there soon reached Germany, where they gave rise to the German Pekin, a distinct and separate breed.

The body is rectangular as seen from the side and is held at about 40º to the horizontal; the tail projects above the line of the back.