68 
Field Marks. Long slender head and neck and long-pointed tail make good field 
marks. The dark head and white foreneck and underparts are recognition marks for the 
male. 
Nesting. On ground, sometimes at considerable distance from water. 
Distribution. Rare on the Atlantic coast, becoming commoner towards the west. 
Breeds from the prairie provinces north to the Arctic and formerly east to lake Erie. 
144. Wood Duck. SUMMER DUCK. THE BRIDE. FR.—LE CANARD HUPPE. Aix 
sponsa. L, 18°50. Plate V A. 
Distinctions. With the illustrations as a guide there should be no difficulty in 
recognizing this species. The male even in eclipse plumage always retains a suggestion of 
the cheek markings. 
Field Marks. This is the only common summer Duck in our southern sections having 
a pure white underbody. The white eye-ring of the female is quite conspicuous. 
Nesting. In hollow trees or stumps in the vicinity of quiet water. 
Distribution. Temperate North America as far north as southern Canada and across 
the continent; more common in the lower Great Lakes region than on either of our coasts 
or in the prairie provinces. 
This is the brightest coloured and most beautiful Duck in America 
and perhaps in the world. The only species that can approach it is the 
Mandarin Duck of China which is often seen in confinement with it. The 
Wood Duck was originally the “‘Summer Duck”’ of our southern borders 
and almost every woodland stream and back-water pond had at least 
one pair; but, since the clearing of the land, the farmer’s-boy-shot-gun 
combination has been too much for it. Its bright colours, the relative 
conspicuousness of its nesting places, and the ease with which it can be 
stalked or ‘‘jumped”’ in its more or less wooded haunts have made it an 
easy prey for even the inexperienced shooter and it is in great danger of 
being exterminated. A duck that alights in trees is more or less paradoxical 
to most European sportsmen, but this species does so commonly. It 
builds its nest in a hollow tree some distance from the ground, usually 
overlooking quiet oxbow pond or other dead water. How the young are 
brought to the ground is not authoritatively settled yet, and many con- 
flicting reports are circulated regarding it; such as the old birds carrying 
their young in their bills or on their backs, or shoving them out to take 
chances with their little unfledged wings in fluttering to the ground. In 
some way they reach the ground at an early age and follow the mother 
about the reaches of the streams or other quiet waters, the male keeping 
nearby to give his family the benefit of his (moral) support in times of 
danger. Later they seek the marshes, which they inhabit through the 
autumn, leaving for the south before the first frost has chilled the waters. 
As the Wood Duck takes readily to nesting boxes prepared for the 
paepose it would seem probable that its numbers could be increased in 
this way. 
Subfamily—Fuliguline. Bay, Sea, or Diving Ducks. 
General Description. Heavily or compactly built Ducks with typically flattened or 
spatulate duck-like bill sometimes swollen or high at base (Figure 9, p. 19), but always 
with flattened nail at tip (Figures 8 and 9, p. 19). Hind toe modified into a flat, 
paddle, or fin-shaped lobe. 
Distinctions. Bill will separate the Sea Ducks from Mergansers and hind toe from 
River and Pond Ducks. 
Field Marks. Bill, when observed, will separate these from Mergansers though they 
are more easily recognized in life as species than as a subfamily. 
Nesting. Usually on ground, though sometimes in trees. 
