nrcKs. 



DUCKS. 



42s 



long feather*, and also tbuM on the shoulder, broadly 

 white and black. Inner wing-covert* white, bund ' 



barred with 

 with brown. 



Almost all the coloured plumage ihowi a play of coloun with 

 metallic liutre. Bill mi; a space between the no*tril, its tip, 

 margin*, and lower mandible, black. Legs orange-coloured. 



Bill of Summer-Duck (Drndrotinia tponta'}, Swalnjon. 



The bill shorter than the head ; considerably narrowed towards the tip, 

 like that of the Eider ; its height at the rictus greater than ite width ; 

 iU frontal angles prolonged. Mandibles strongly toothed. Unguis 

 itrong, arched or hooked. Nostrils large, pervious, lateral. Fore- 

 head sloping. Occipital crest long and pendent. Wings shorter than 

 the tail, which consist* of 16 wide rounded feathers. Total length 

 21 inches. The female wants the fine lines on the flanks and the hair- 

 like tufts on the aides of the rump. She has a shorter crest ; and the 

 plumage is leas vivid, especially about the head, where it is mostly 

 brown. (Richardson.) 



Somnw r.Durk (ZxW. 



Audubon Ute* that Uiia s|>cies range* over the whole extent of 

 i.itcd SUte*. and that he *w it in all parts, from Louisiana to 

 the conBne* of Maine, and from the vicinity of the Atlantic coast* 

 a* far inland as hi* travel* extended. It al*o occurs sparingly <lm in K ' 

 tJie breeding stMon in Suva Scotia; but farther north be di<l nut 

 obMrve it Everywhere in this immen** tract he found it an almost 

 coiwtant rssidcnt ; for ome ipend the winter even in llas*aohu*ett, 

 and far up the warm spring water* of brook* on the Missouri. It 

 confine* iUelf however entirely to fresh-water, preferring at all time* 

 the **clud*d retreat* of the ponds, bayou*, or creeks, that occur so 

 profanely in the wood*. Well acquainted with man, they carefully 

 avoid him, nnle** during the breeding season, when, if a convenient 

 spot is found by them, they will even locate thenuelve* about the 

 miller's dam. 



Catnby nay* that the Summer-Duck* breed in Virginia and 

 Carolina, and make their ne*t* in the hole* of tall tree* (made by 

 woodpeckers) growing in water, particularly cypren trees. " While 

 Uwy are young and unable to fly, the old one* carry them on their 

 backs from their ne*u into the water ; and at the approach of danger, 

 they fix with their bill* on the backs of the old ones, which fly away 



with them." Audubon'* evidence, which we here give, differs from 

 that of Cate*by in some particulars. " The Wood-Duck breeds in 

 the Middle State* about the beginning of April, in Massachusetts a 

 month later, nnd in Nova Scotia or on our northern lake* seldom before 

 the first day* of Jmi". In Louisiana and Kentucky, where I have 

 had better opportunities of studying their habits in this respect . 

 generally pair about the 1st of March, sometimes a fortnight earlier. 

 I never knew one of these birds to form a nest on the ground or on 

 the branches of a tree. They appearat all times to prefer the hollow 

 broken portion of some large branch, the bole of our largest wood- 

 pecker (Pictu principalu), or the deserted retreat of the fox squirrel ; 

 and I have been frequently surprised to see them go in and out of a 

 hole of any one of these, when their bodies while on wing teemed to 

 be nearly half as large again as the aperture within which they had 

 deposited their eggs. Once only I found a nest (with ten eggs) in the 

 fissure of a rock on the Kentucky river, a few miles below Frankfort. 

 Generally however the holes to which they betake themselves are 

 either over deep swamps, aliove cane-brake*, or broken branches of 

 high sycamores, seldom more than 40 or SO feet from the water. 

 They are much attached to their breeding place*, and for three succes- 

 sivc years I found a pair near Henderson, in Kentucky, with eggs in 

 the beginning of April, in the abandoned nest of an ivory-billed wood- 

 pecker. The eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age 

 of the bird, are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty portion 

 of down, which I believe is mostly plucked from the breast of the 

 female. They are perfectly smooth, nearly elliptical, of a light colour 

 between buff and pale green, two inches in length by one and a half 

 in diameter; the shell is about equal in firmness to that of the 

 mallard's egg, and quite smooth. No sooner has the female completed 

 her get of eggs than she is abandoned by her mate, who now joins 

 others, which form themselves into considerable flocks, and thus 

 remain apart until the young are able to fly, when old and young of 

 both sexes come together, and so remain until the commencement of 

 the next breeding season. In all the nests which I have examine 1. 1 

 have been rather surprised to find a quantity of feathers belonging to 

 birds of other species, even those of the domestic fowl, and particu- 

 larly of the wild goose and wild turkey. On coming upon a nest 

 with eggs when the bird was absent in search of food, I have always 

 found the eggs covered over with feathers and down, although quite 

 out of sight in the depth of a woodpecker's or squirrel's hole. On 

 the contrary, when the nest was placed in the broken branch of a 

 tree, it could easily be observed from the ground, on account of the 

 feathers, dead sticks, and withered grasses about it. If the nest is 

 placed immediately over the water, the young, the moment they are 

 hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into the air with 

 their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their favourite 

 element ; but whenever their birthplace is at some distance from it 

 the mother carries them to it one. by one in her bill, holding them so 

 as not to injure their yet tender frame. On several occasions how- 

 ever when the hole was thirty, forty, or more yards from a bayou or 

 other piece of water, I vit the mother suffered the young 



to fall on the grasses and dried leaves beneath the tree, and after- 

 wards led them directly to the nearest edge of the next pool or 

 creek." 



D. galericulata and D. tpotua breed freely in captivity. Both 

 species have produced several broods in the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society in the Regent's 1'ark, where most of the Analiaa are exhibited. 

 The latter has also bred in St. James's Park, where they nml other 

 A nalintr may be always seen. 



Mn -inutmtmrn falerifulala}, male. 



Colonel Sykes, in his ' Catalogue of Birds observed in the Dukhun ' 

 (Deocau), enumerates the following British Anatina A not tlrtptra, 

 Linn., males identical with specimens in tin- British Museum, from 



