WooDDucK 221 



feeding, they are fat and juicy and as palatable as any of the teals. 



Shovellers love the warm weather and in the autumn the first early 

 frosts bring back recollections of their sunny winter homes; south they 

 start by mid-September and before the end of October the migration is 

 over. On their autumn migration they are often found in association 

 with Blue-winged teals. In the spring they wait until the sloughs and 

 ponds are free from ice, and, though they start to move from the most 

 southern portions of their winter quarters before the end of March, it is 

 not until the first week in May that they reach the northern limits of 

 their breeding range in Alaska. In the spring they migrate in small 

 flocks by themselves and soon after arrival on their breeding grounds 

 break up into pairs or three's consisting of one female and her two 

 husbands. Their main winter range is in the Southern States and 

 Mexico, where they inhabit the shallow inland w r aters, rarely visiting 

 the coasts. 



Wood Duck 



Aix sponsa 

 (aks, spon-sa) 



Colour Plates Nos. 15 and 14. Downy Young No. 33. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Aix, Greek, a kind of water-fowl in Aristotle; sponsa, Latin, meaning betrothed, 

 i.e., as if in wedding dress, referring to the beautiful plumage. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Summer duck; wood duck (sometimes shortened to woody). 

 IN LOCAL USE: Acorn duck; black; branchier (inhabitant of the branches; varied 

 to brancheur and branchu); the bride; canard du bois (wood duck); canard d'ete 

 (summer duck); grey duck; plumer; squealer; swamp duck; tree duck; widgeon; 

 wood wigeon. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head. Crown, metallic green; crest, iridescent 

 green and bronze in front, darkening to iridescent bronzy, blue and purplish 

 black at rear; side of head, w r ith areas of iridescent purple violet, green and bronze; 

 hindneck, velvety black; chin and throat, white; foreneck, white, from which two 

 broad white bars extend upwards, one ending below and behind eye and the other 

 terminating in black of hindneck; a narrow white streak extending from base of 

 bill over eye, into crest at nape; another horizontal white streak from behind eye, 

 into crest at nape; bill, upper mandible, pinkish white in middle, lake red at base, 

 with narrow yellow border, with ridge, tip, nail and lower mandible, black (colours, 

 especially red, fading after breeding season); bill, much shorter than head, narrow, 

 height at base greater than width; nail very broad and sharply hooked; eye, bright 

 orange red to vermilion, eyelid, vermilion (orange yellow in autumn). Body. Back 

 and rump, rich bronzy green; scapulars, black, glossed with purplish green; chest, 



