156 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



not breeding. Wilson was informed of an instance where a resi- 

 dent hear Gunpowder Creek had a yard swarming with Wood 

 Ducks which were completely domesticated. Audubon also gives 

 an interesting account of his attempts to tame and domesticate 

 this duck, in which he so far succeeded that the birds bred with- 

 in his grounds, in boxes. The wild ducklings when taken were 

 put in the bottom of empty flour-barrels; but he soon found 

 that they could raise themselves from the bottom to the brim 

 by moving a few inches at a time up the side, lifting foot after 

 foot, by means of their diminutive hooked claws, when they 

 would tumble over, and run in every direction. They fed freely 

 on corn-meal soaked in water, and, as they grew, caught flies with 

 great expertness." ( Water Birds of North America.} 



GENUS AYTHYA BOIE. 



Ay thy a BOIE, Isis, 1822, 564. Type, by elimination. Anas ferina LINN. 



GEN. CHAR. Hind toe with a broad membranous lobe, or "flap": feathering on lores 

 or forehead aot reaching beyond posterior border of nostril ; graduation of tail less than 

 length of bill from nostril; loral feathering with a decidedly convex anterior outline; width 

 of nail less than one third the width of the bill across middle portion. AituU males with 

 the head and part of the neck uniform chestnut or black, the lower neck uniform black (ex- 

 cept in a few exotic species); back and scapulars waved with white and black; speculum 

 bluish gray, or white tipped with black; lower parts white. Adult females with head, 

 neck, chest, and upper parts plain brownish, the head paler, or whitish, next the bill; specu- 

 lum as in the male. 



The American species of this genus are ranged under three sub- 

 genera, as follows: 



A. Culmen longer than inner toe, with claw; bill not wider near end than at base; head 



and neck reddish in adult males. 



1. Aythya. Bill much shorter than middle toe, without claw, its greatest width nearly 

 half the length of the eulrnen, the end moderately depressed, and the nail decidedly 

 hooked. 



2. Aristonetta. Culmen as long as middle toe, without claw, its greatest width not 

 more than one third the length of the culmen; the end much flattened, aud nail 

 very slightly hooked. 



B. Culmen as long as outer toe, with claw, bill wider at end than at base; head and neck 



black in adult males. 



3. Fuligula. 



