THE SUMMER DUCK. 219 



I should have said alone of the American family for 

 I find a note by Mr. Brewer, the last editor of Wilson, 

 annexed to his article on our bird, which I prefer to 

 subjoin instead of merely making a verbal alteration, 

 since I doubt not many others are in the same error, who 

 will be glad to be corrected in detail. It appears, as 

 will be seen below, that, although there are no European 

 tree-ducks, nor any other American, there is a family of 

 Asiatic and African congeners of our Summer Duck, for 

 which an especial name has been proposed, though not 

 as yet generally adopted. I might add that the present 

 Latin name of our bird, anas sponsa, signifies, being 

 interpreted, the "bride duck, from the rare elegance of its 

 form and beauty of its plumage a pretty name for a 

 pretty creature. 



"These lovely ducks may be said to represent an 

 incessorial form among the analidce ; they build and 

 perch on trees, and spend as much time on land as upon 

 the waters ; Dr. Richardson has given this group, con- 

 taining few members, the title of dendronessa from their 

 arboreal habits. Our present species is the only one 

 belonging to America, where it ranges rather to the 

 south than north ; the others, I believe, are all confined 

 to India. They are remarkable for the beauty and 

 splendor of their plumage, its glossy, silky texture, and 

 for the singular form of the scapulars, which, instead of 

 an extreme development in length, receive it in the con- 

 trary proportion of breadth ; and instead of lying flat, in 



