509 
THE WOOD DUCK. 
rich chestnut, glossed with purplish on sides of breast, and marked centrally with 
triangular white spots, which increase in size backward; belly broadly white; 
sides warm fulvous, minutely waved with black, the tips of the outermost feathers 
with broad crescentic bars of black and white; chestnut of breast and fulvous 
of sides separated by two transverse bars, the front one white, the hinder black; 
upper parts chiefly sooty or velvety black with metallic reflections of blue, purple, 
green, and bronze; the anterior and marginal coverts and base of primaries (all 
mostly concealed) plain fuscous; exposed tips of primaries silvery white, on 
outer web tipped with metallic blue; secondaries white-tipped, the exposed webs 
metallic; crissum sooty-brown with metallic gloss; flank-patches intense purplish 
chestnut ; axillars and lining of wings white, spotted or barred with dusky; “bill 
(in life) beautifully varied with jet-black, milk-white, lilac, red, orange, and 
yellow ; legs and feet orange, claws black; iris and edges of eye-lid red.” Adult 
female and young: Crest only faintly indicated; top of head purplish brown 
with faint metallic reflections; throat and space about eye (extending backward 
to occiput) and some feathering about base of bill, white; rest of head ashy 
brown; upper parts much as in male but duller, chiefly warm brown in place of 
black; fore-neck and breast brown, streaked with lighter or dull ochraceous ; 
belly white; crissum mixed fuscous and white. Length adult male 19.00-20.50 
(482.6-520.7) ; wing 9.15 (232.4) ; tail 3.88 (98.6) ; bill 1.30 (33.); tarsus 1.36 
(34.5). Female, length 17.00-19.25 (431.8-489.) ; other dimensions in proportion. 
Recognition Marks.—Smaller than Mallard. F-xquisitely variegated plum- 
age of male unmistakable; female unlike that of any other species. 
Nest, in a hollow tree, lined with twigs, grasses, and down. Eggs, 8-14, 
buffy white. Av. size, 2.05 x 1.55 (52.1 x 39.4). 
General Range.—Temperate North America, breeding throughout its range. 
Cuba. Accidental in Europe. 
Range in Ohio.—Formerly common summer resident and migrant. Now 
rare throughout the state. 
FEW if any more exquisitely beautiful creatures have been fashioned in 
the workshop of Nature than the Wood Ducks of America. Among the 
Ducks, certainly only the Mandarin (Aix galericulata) of China, a near rela- 
tive, may vie with this species in brilliancy of coloring and delicacy of mould. 
Linneus called the Wood Duck the Bride (Latin, sponsa, bride) but, of course, 
it is the bridegroom who wears the jewels and inherits the products of Ori- 
ental dye-stuffs, bequeathed through a thousand generations; for, Males must 
strut and females must work, is the rule among ducks as among most other 
birds. Literally all the colors of the rainbow belong to this bird in his nuptial 
plumage, with black and white thrown in for good measure. And with all 
this gaudy attire go many accomplishments not attained by any others in the 
group. 
Birds of this species frequent secluded swamps, bayous, and sheltered 
water-ways. They are swift and graceful fliers, and they are able to traverse 
the mazes of the forest with the ease of pigeons. They perch readily upon 
the branches of trees, and even walk along them without hesitancy. T'o the 
aquatic fare offered by the surface and depths of woodland pools, is added the 
flying insects of the forest home. and the tender shoots and leaves of plants in 
