698 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —LAMELLIMOSTRES — AN SERES. 



long coverts. A peculiar as well as most beautiful genus; the Chinese Mandarin Duck, A. 

 galericnlata, is still more remarkably, though not more elegantly, colored than ours. 

 119. A. spon'sa. (Lat. sponsa, betrothed: i. e., as if in wedding dress. Fig. 484.) Wood Duck. 

 Simmer Duck. " The Bride." Adult $ : Bill pinkish-white, with lake-red base, black 

 ridge, tip, and under mandible ; iris and edges of eyelids red ; feet orange, with black claws. 

 Upper part of the head, including crest, glistening green and purple ; a narrow white line over 

 eye from bill to occiput, and another behind eye to nape, these white lines mixing in the crest. 

 A broad white patch on the throat, forking behind, one branch mounting head behind eye, the 

 other passing to side of neck. Sides and front of lower neck and fore breast rich purplish-chest- 

 nut, prettily marked with several chains of angular white spots. A large white black-edged 

 crescent of enlarged feathers in fi-ont of the wing. Under parts pufe white, the sides yellow- 

 ish-gray vermiculated witli black and white wavy bars; the enlarged flank-feathers broadly 

 rayed with black and white ; the lining of the 

 wings white barred with grayish-brown, of 

 which color is the crissum. Upper parts gen- 

 erally lustrous with bronzy-green and purjile ; 

 scapulars and inner secondaries velvet-black, 

 gltjssed with purple and green ; a green spec- 

 ulum, succeeded by white tips of the seconda- 

 ries ; primaries frosted on outer webs near end. 

 Adult 9 • Little or no crest, but lengthened 

 feathers on nape ; no enlargement or special 

 colorings of feathers about the wings. Bill 

 dusky: feet yeUowish-dusky. Head and neck 

 gray, darker on crown, the chin and parts 

 about bill and eyes white. Fore neck, breast 

 and sides of body yellowish-brown, mottled 

 with dark gray, the breast spotted v^-ith brown, 

 the beUy white. Upper parts dark brown Fig. 484. — "Wood Duck. (From Tenney, after Audubon.) 

 with considerable gloss ; wings much as in the male, but the velvety-black reduced. Length 

 18.00-20.00; extent about 28.00; wing 9.00; tail 4.50; bill 1.40; tarsus the same ; middle 

 toe and claw 2.00. N. Am. at large, but especially U. S., breeding throughout its range, 

 wintering chiefly in the South. This exquisite bird is commonly dispersed in wooded portions 

 of the country near water ; it nestles usually in the hollows of trees, whence the young are 

 transported in the bill of the parent. Eggs about a dozen, very variable in number, of pale 

 drab color and the usual smooth shell and elliptical shape, about 2.00 X 1-50. 



68. Subfamily FULICULIN/E: Sea Ducks. 



Ked-head. (From 



Tarsi scutellate in front ; hind toe 

 lobatc. The large membranous flap 

 depending from the hind toe dis- 

 tinguishes this group from the pre- 

 ceding, probably without exception. 

 While the general form is the same 

 as that of the Anatince, the feet 

 are notably larger, with relatively 

 shorter tarsi, longer toes (the outer 

 scarcely or not shorter than the mid- 

 dle), and broader webs; they are 

 also placed somewhat further back, 



