THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 4! 



of May I found a nest containing three freshly laid eggs. The 

 female was flushed from the nest when scarcely more than a rod 

 away, and was at once joined by the male from a small slough 

 a few rods distant. The nest was in the center of a tall, thick 

 bunch of grass on a small ridge between two sloughs, and was 

 a slight hollow thickly lined with grass stems ; no down had been 

 added. The parent birds circled about overhead, often coming 

 within gunshot, during the whole time I was in the vicinity." 

 The earliest date of its appearance on its fall migration is Sep- 

 tember 18. In the museum of The Chicago Academy of Sciences 

 there is a specimen of the male hybrid pintail and mallard. 



Its geographical range covers the northern hemisphere and 

 includes the whole of North America, where it breeds from the 

 northern parts of the United States northward. 



Genus AIX Boie, 1828. 



Aix sponsa (Linnaeus). Wood Duck. 



Anas sponsa LINN^US, S. N., ed. 10, I, 1758, 128. 

 Aix sponsa BONAPARTE, Comp. List, 1838, 57. 



Popular synonyms: SUMMEB DUCK. WOOD WIDGEON. BBIDAL 

 DUCK 



The Wood Duck is common during its migrations. Mr. E. 

 W. Nelson says (1876) that it was a rather common summer 

 resident in secluded localities. A pair is occasionally found breed- 

 ing at Calumet Heights, Indiana, and at Long Lake near Millers, 

 Indiana. It may also be found breeding abundantly at Kouts ? 

 Indiana, about forty-eight miles south of Chicago. A young 

 female of this species alighted in the duck pond in Lincoln Park, 

 Chicago, in September, 1896, and associating with the domestic 

 ducks in the pond, became so tame that it could almost be taken 

 in the hand. It arrives in April and departs about the last of 

 October. 



The Wood Duck breeds throughout its range which covers 

 the whole of temperate North America. 



Genus AYTHYA Boie, 1822. 

 Aythya americana (Eyton). Bedhead. 



Fuligula americana EYTON, Monogr. Anat, 1838, 155. 

 Fuligula ferina BONAPABTE, Synop., 1828, 392. 

 Fuligula ferina var. americana COUES, Key, 1872, 289. 

 Aythija' americana BAIBD, B. N. Amer., 1858. 793. 

 Popular synonyms: RED-HEAD. CANVAS-BACK (erroneously). AMER- 

 ICAN POCHABD. RED-HEADED BBOAD-BILL. 



