( 312 ) 



ANAS SPONSA— LINN. 



SUMMER DUCK. 



Summer Duck, or Wood Duck. Anns sp'onsa. Sw & Rich. 

 Dciidroiicsisa >|ionsa, Suinriicr Duck, Sw. & Rich. 

 Suininrr or \V()i;d Duck, Anas sponta, Nutt. Alan. 

 Wood Duck, Anas tpoiisa, Aud. Oni. Biog. 



Specif,c Character — The pendant crest, the throat, upper portion 

 of the ibre neck and bands on the sides of the neck white, with the 

 speculum blue, glossed with green and tipped with white. Adult male 

 with the bill bright red at the base, the sides yellow, between the 

 nostrils a black spot reaching nearly to the black, hooked nail, the 

 head is furnished with long silken feathers, which fall gracefully 

 over the hind neck, in certain lights exhibiting all the colors of the 

 rainbow — a narrow white line from the base of the upper mandi- 

 ble, passing over the eye — a broader band of the same color behind 

 the eye, both bands mingling with the long feathers on the occiput 

 — throat and upper portion of the fore-neck, pure white, a band of 

 the same color inclining toward the eye — a similar band on the sides 

 of the neck, nearly meeting on the nape — lower portion of the neck 

 reddish-purple, the fore part marked with triangular spots of white 

 — breast and abdomen dull white — sides of the body yellowish-gray, 

 undulated with black, the feathers toward the ends marked with a 

 broad band of black, succeeded by a band of white — tips black.— 

 Tail and upper tail-coverts greenish-black — lower tail-coverts brown 

 — sides of the rump dull reddish-purple— rump, back, and middle 

 portion of the hind-neck, dark reddish-brown, tinged with green — a 

 broad whiteband before the wings, terminating with black — lesser 

 wing-coverts and primaries brown, most of the latter with a portion 

 of their outer webs silvery Avhite — the inner webs glossed with green 

 toward the ends — secondaries tipped with white — their webs blue, 

 glossed with green — the inner webs brown — their crowns violet 

 blue — secondaries black. 



Female, upper part of the head dusky, glossed with green ; sides 

 of the head,, upper portion of the sides of the neck, with the nape 

 grayish-brown ; a white patch behind the eye ; throat white, the 



