Genus AIX Boie. 

 AIX SPONSA (Linn.). 



45. Wood Duck. (144) 



Male : — Head crested, metallic green and purple ; line above and behind the 

 eye, white ; throat, white ; above, coppery black with a gloss of green and 

 purple ; beneath, white ; upper part of the breast, chestnut ; sides, buffy, very 

 finely variegated with black ; the shoulder bordered also with black ; covert 

 and quills with more or fewer tips and shades of white and purple. Female .•— 

 Chestnut of the neck detached and dull ; sides, not striped ; head and neck, 

 dull ; bill, reddish, edges dusky ; legs and feet, yellowish ; iris, red. Length, 

 19; extent, 27^; wing, 9; tarsus, H. 



Hab. — Temperate North America, breeding throughout its range. 



Nest, in a hole in a tree. 



Eggs, about twelve in number, pale buff slightly tinged with green. 



This, the most beautiful of all our water-fowl, is very generally 

 distributed throughout the country, arriving from the south about 

 the time the ice disappears from our lakes and rivers, and retiring 

 early in the fall. Owing to the great beauty of the male, these birds 

 are much sought after by all classes of sportsmen, and are now seldom 

 seen except near the retired ponds and marshes where they breed. 

 Twenty-five years ago I used to see them leading out their young 

 from one of the inlets of the Dundas marsh. They were known at 

 that time to breed near Gage's inlet also, but uf late years they have 



