ca 
500 ‘ ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
broad and distant transverse bars of reddish-white, each feather with two or three in- 
terrupted along the shafts; these are much wider and more distant than in the male. 
Length, twenty-one and seventy-five one-hundredths inches; wing, eleven; tar- 
sus, one and forty-two one-hundredths; commissure, one and eighty one-hundredths 
inches. 
Hab. — Continent of North«America. Accidental in Europe. 
This beautiful bird is found in small flocks of four or five 
individuals in the spring and fall migrations, and is more 
often found in the fresh-water ponds and streams in the 
interior than in the salt water on the coast. 
Tt breeds in the Hudson’s Bay Country, early in June. 
The nest is placed on the ground, as I am informed, in the 
marshes and sterile plains of that country, and resembles 
very much the nest of the common Black or Dusky Duck. 
The eggs are from eight to twelve in number. They 
resemble those of the Blue-winged Teal in form and color, 
being a dirty yellowish-white. They average in dimensions 
about 2.05 by 1.50 inch. 
The food of this bird consists principally of the tender 
leaves and roots of aquatic plants, which it obtains, when in 
company with the Canvas-back, by stealing from that bird; 
the latter diving, and bringing it up from the bottom of the 
water, and the Widgeon seizing it when he appears at 
the surface. 
AIX, Bors. 
Aix, Born, Isis (1828), 329. (Type Anas galericulata, L.) 
Bill very high at the base, where the upper lateral angle runs back much behind 
the lower edge of the bill; nostrils very large, and scarcely enveloped by mem- 
brane; the feathers of the forehead reaching to their posterior edge; nail very large, 
and much hooked, occupying the entire tip of bill; lamelle depressed, broad, and 
distant; bill, from feathers of forehead, shorter than the head, and equal to the tar- 
sus; head crested; claws short, much curved, and very sharp; tail, about half the 
wings, vaulted, cuneate, but truncate at the tip; the coverts nearly as long as 
the feathers. 
AIX SPONSA,. — Boie. 
The Summer Duck; Wood Duck. 
Anas sponsa, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 207. Wils. Am. Orn., VIII. (1814) 
97. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 52; V. 618. Jd., Birds Am., VI. (1848) 271. 
Aix sponsa, Boie. Isis (1828), 329. 
Anas (Boschas) sponsa, Nuttall Man., II. (18384) 394. 
