ZOOLOGY. 257 



Sp. Ch. — Male — Tail of 14 feathers. Bill blue, the extreme base and tip black. Head and neck pale buff, or faint reddish 

 yellow, each feather banded narrowly with blackish, so as to give the appearance of spots. The top of the head from the bill is 

 pale, unspotted, creamy white; the sides of the head, from around the eye to the nape, glossy green, the feathers, however, with 

 hidden spots, as described; chin uniform dusky. Fore part of breast and sides of body light brownish or chocolate red,eacli 

 feather with obsolete grayisli edge; rest of under parts pure white; tlie crissum abruptly black. The back, scapulars, and 

 rump, finely waved transversely anteriorly with reddish and gray, posteriorly with purer gray, on a brown ground; a little of the 

 same waving also on the sides. The lesser wing coverts are plain gray; the middle and greater are conspicuously white, the 

 latter terminated by black, succeeded by a speculum, which is grass green at the base, and then velvet black. The tortials are 

 black on the outer web, bordered narrowly by black, the outermost one hoary gray, externally edged with black. The tail is 

 hoary brown. The upper coverts are black externally. The axillars are white. 



The female has the head and neck somewhat similar, but spotted to the bill. Wings as in the male. The black of tertials 

 replaced by brown; the gray of the lesser coverts extending slightly over the middle ones. Back and scapulars with rather 

 broad and distant transverse bars of reddish white, each feather with two or three, interrupted along the shafts. These are 

 much wider and more distant than in the male. Length, 21.75 ; wing, 11 ; tarsus, 1.42 ; commissure, 1.80. 



Uab. — Continent o( \orth America. Accidental in Europe. 



The widgeon is abundant in the same situations as the pintail, and at Fort Dalles they are 

 more common than any other species. I shot them occasionaly in the rock lagoons just above 

 Dallestown, where I found them much more readily approachable than other species, with the 

 exception of teal. They breed on the small lakes of central Oregon in moderate numbers, and 

 on the northwest coast generally; seem to be next in abundance to the mallard among the 

 fresh water ducks. — S. 



AIX SPONSA, (Linn.) Boie. 



Summer Duck. 



Jnas Sponsa, Link. Syst Nat. I, 1766, 207.— Gm. I, 539.— Lath. Ind. II, 1790, 876.— Wilson, Am. Cm. VIII, 

 1814, 97; pi. Ixx.— Bon. Obs. No. 261.— Ann. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 52: V, 618; pi. 206.— 1b. 

 Syn. 280.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 271 ; pl. 391. 



Jlix sponsa, Boie, Isis, 1828, 329. — Baird, Gen. Rep. Birds, 785. 



^jios {Boschas) sponsa, Nottall, Man. II, 1834, 394. 



Sp. Ch. — Head and crest metallic green to below the eyes; the cheeks and a stripe from behind the eye purplish. A narrow 

 short line from the upper angle of the bill along the side of the crown and through the crest, another on the upper eyelid, a 

 stripe starting behind and below the eye, and running into the crest parallel with the first mentioned, the chin and upper part 

 of the throat, sending a well-defined branch up towards tlie 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 tips internally violet and purple. 



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 waved 

 feathers on the sides wanting. Male : length, 18 to 19 inches; extent, about 28; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.40 ; commissure, 1.54; 

 iris red ; bill yellow and black ; feet grayish. 



Hab. — Continent of North America. 



The wood duck is found sparingly in Washington and Oregon Territories, where I obtained 

 summer specimens at Fort Steilacoom, and winter birds at Fort Dalles. In habits the bird in 

 Oregon does not differ from those found in the middle States. — S. 



The summer or wood duck is a summer resident, only arriving in April and leaving about 

 October. Its nests and young are often found in the woods of the interior, but it seems to 

 visit the coast very rarely. — C. 

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