USEFUL BIRDS 



THE WOOD DUCK. 



179 



The Wood Duck 



A bird like the woodcock and some others, rapidly growing 

 more scarce in Minnesota and inclvided here with the Golden 

 Plover as representing our "vanishing birds." Strikingly tropical- 

 looking is the male bird. In the above excellent illustration imagine 

 the sides of the face and soft crested crown, green with purplish 

 reflections, contrasting sharply with the white of the upper throat, 

 the breast a rich, purplish chestnut, hnely spotted with white ; sides 

 yellowish, delicately penciled with black, with ends of flank 

 feathers sharply barred with black and white. Back blackish or 

 brownish, with green reflections, and long wing feathers, bluish 

 with green reflections. The eye (iris) bright red. A veritable 

 prince amongst ducks, capable of domestication and worthy of 

 most careful protection. What fisherman, wading a wooded 

 stream, or Nature-lover idling on the bank of a secluded pond, has 

 not been delighted by the flashing colors of these beautiful birds 

 as they leave the water, startled at the approach of an alien, or 

 entranced as they disport themselves in sylvan pool, quite un- 

 conscious of the admiring glances they invite ! 



Dr. P. L. Hatch, in his notes on the birds of Minnesota, 1892, 

 voicing his enthusiasm over this duck, breaks into song as fol- 

 lows: "The most truthful and esthetic description of the mature 



