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 fortv-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. 



It 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. 



ATX, BOIK. 



Aix, BOIE, Isis (1828), 329. (Type Anas gakriculata, L.) 



Bill very high at the base, where the upper lateral angle runs btick much behind 

 the lower edge of the bill ; nostrils very large, and scarcely enveloped by mem- 

 orane ; the feathers of the forehead reaching to their posterior edge ; nail very large, 

 and much hooked, occupying the entire tip of bill ; lamellae depressed, broad, and 

 distant ; bill, from feathers of forehead, shorter than the head, and equal to the tai- 

 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 aa 

 the feathers. 



AIX SPONSA. Boie. 

 The Summer Duck; Wood Back. 



Anat sponsa, Linnseus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 207. Wils. Am. Orn., VTII. ( 1814' 

 97. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 52; V. 618. Ib., Birds Am., VI. (1843) 271. 

 Aix sponsa, Boie. Isis (1828), 329. 

 Anat (Sosehas) sponsa, Nuttall Man., II. ( 1834) 394. 



