THE SUMMER DUCK. 



501 



Description. 



Head and crest metallic-green to below the eyes; the cheeks, and a stripe from 

 behind the eye, purplish ; a narrow short line fi-oni the upper angle of the bill along 

 the side of the crown and through the crest, another on the upper eyelid, a stripe 

 starting below and behind the eye, and running into the crest paralle with the one 

 first mentioned, the chin and upper part of the throat sending a well-defined branch 

 up towards the eye, and another towards the nape, snowy-white ; lower neck and 

 jugulum, and sides of the base of tail, rich-purple; the jugulum with triangular 

 spots of white and a chestnut shade; remaining under parts white, as is a crescent 

 in front of the wing bordered behind by black; sides yellowish-gray, finely lined 

 with black; the long feathers of the flanks broadly black at the end, with a sub- 

 terminal bar, and sometimes a tip of white; back and neck above nearly uniform 

 bronzed-green and purple; scapulars and innermost tertials velvet-black, glossed on 

 the inner webs with violet; the latter with a white bar at the end; greater coverts 

 violet, succeeded by a greenish speculum, tipped with white; primaries silvery-white 

 externally towards the end; the tii)s internally violet and purple; iris bright-red. 



Female with the wings quite similar; the back more purplish; the sides of the 

 head and neck ashy; the region round the base of the bill, a patch through the eyes, 

 and the chin, white; the purple of the jugulum replaced by brownish; the Avaved 

 feathers on the sides wanting. 



Length, nineteen inches; wing, nine and fifty one-hundredths ; tarsus, one and 

 fortj' one-hundredths ; commissure, one and fifty-four one-hundredths inches. 



Hub. — Continent of North America. 



This, the most beautiful of all our Ducks, is pretty abun- 

 dantly distributed through New England in the breeding 

 season. Wilson's description of its habits is so much 

 better than I can give, that I make a liberal extra<jt from 

 it. He says, — 



" The Summer Duck is equally well known in Mexico and many 

 of the West India ^-=^ ^ 



Islands. During the 

 whole of our winters, 

 Uiey are occasionally 

 seen in the States 

 south of the Potomac. 

 On the 10 th of Janua- 

 ry, I met with two on 

 a creek near Peters- 

 ourg, in Virginia. In 

 the more northern dis- 

 tricts, however, they are mijrratory 



'■^- 



i:/^ - ^--' ^ 



In Pennsylvania, the female 

 usually begins to lay late in April, or early in May. Instances 



