150 The Wood DucJc. — Anas ^ponsa* 



plumage of the male, being simply of a dark brown color on the back and 

 wing^, with the breast white. She has, however, the tongue all to herselt 

 possessing the loudest voice of any duck known in Canada. 



'' Wood Ducks in their habits are very similar to the Black Ducks. — 

 They feed close to the shore, in shallow water, and may often be seen on 

 land in search of food, which consists of nuts, seeds, and small plants. 



** They are not so w^ary or difficult to approach as the Black Duck or 

 OiQ Golden Eye, although they are constantly on the look out for danger. 



" This species, in common with every other non-diving species, is very 

 fond of wild rice. Large flocks resort to the rice field to be found at different 

 places on the Ottawa river, when they are shot on the wing as they arrive 

 by sportsmen stationed in a canoe or on a Muskrat-house. The first flocks 

 commonly make their appearance at the rice between sundown and dusk, 

 and flock after flock continue to arrive until midnight. On a clear moonlight 

 night, good sport may be had shooting them as they fly in. Having fed 

 thi'oughout the night, the great body of the birds leave the rice field before 

 daylight to fly to their usual places of resort for many miles around, those 

 remaining about the place during the day which have been hatched in the 

 vicinity. 



" Although the wood duck never dives when feeding, it is a cunning and 

 active diver when wounded. It is a fact well known to sportsmen acquainted 

 with the habits of ducks that frequently, when mortally womided, this duck 

 will dive and seize with its bill a weed growing at the bottom of the river, 

 to which it may be found in shallow water, firmly attached after death. 



" The female Wood Duck, shortly after hatching her young, conveys 

 them from the height where her nest is built to the ground, by seizing them 

 m her bill. The young, as do the young of every other species, when pur- 

 sued or alarmed, will dive and immediately conceal themselves in hiding 

 places, where they remain till the danger is over, which they are made aware 

 of by the voice of the parent bird calling them together again. 



*' In the moulting season the male bird loses his fine variegated tuft, but 

 he may still be distinguished from the female by the colors of his bill and 

 the well marked outlines of the brilliant hues peculiar to his head." 



The following are some of AVilson's remarks : — " It is familiarly known 

 m every quarter of the United States, from Florida to Lake Ontario, in the 

 neighborhood of which latter place I have myself met with it in October. — . 

 It rarely visits the sea-shore, or salt marshes, its favorite haunts being the 

 eolitary, deep, and muddy creeks, ponds and mill-dams of the interior, making 

 its nest frequently in old, hollow trees that overhang the water. 



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

 West India Islands. During the whole of our winters, they are occasionally 

 seen in the States south of the Potomac. On the 10th of January, I met 

 with two on a creek near Petersburgh, in Virginia. In the more northern 

 districts, however, they are migratory. In Pennsylvania, the female usually 

 begins to lay late in April or early in May. Instances have been known 

 where the nest was constructed of a few sticks laid in a fork of the branches j 



