A morphological study of black patches and newly reported black rings (black patches with islands of embedded diffuse aurora) was conducted using an archive of low-light level all-sky and narrow-field television camera data. The overwhelming majority of black patches and rings drifted eastward, poleward of westward drifting pulsating aurora in the early recovery phase of the auroral substorm. Occasionally, black aurora would overlap with pulsating aurora. Sometimes the pulsations would add to the intensity in the black aurora more than in the surrounding diffuse aurora (called veiling). One example was documented where the pulsation was purely additive, adding to the intensity of the black aurora and the surrounding diffuse aurora equally. Cases of total veiling suggest an intensity limit, possibly associated with the strong pitch angle diffusion limit. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union