312 APPENDIX. 



bright purple, with splendid green reflections edged 

 with black, the feathers broadly tipped with white. 

 Length twenty-nine inches, wing eleven. Female 

 with the upper part of the head and hind neck dark 

 brown, streaked with dusky ; sides of the throat and 

 fore neck lighter ; a few touches of rust color on 

 the chin and on the base of the bill. Upper plu- 

 mage brown, the feathers margined and tipped 

 with brownish-white; lower plumage brownish- 

 white, mottled with brown ; speculum less exten- 

 sive, and without the lengthened tail feathers so 

 conspicuous in the male. 



This duck is more abundant in the neighborhood 

 of the great lakes than along the margin of the 

 ocean; in epicurean qualities it ranks with the 

 black duck. 



WOOD-DUCK. 



Summer-Duck. 



Anas Sponsa, Aud. 



Specific Character. The pendant crest, the 

 throat, upper portion of the fore 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 



