350 FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS. 
placed near the water beneath tussocks of grass, or at some distance off under the 
shelter of a bush. May or June is the usual nesting-time ; and the number of eggs 
in a clutch is usually from six to ten, although occasionally more. In its partiality 
for grazing the wigeon resembles the geese. 
geencner Dusk The brilliantly coloured and elegantly marked plumage and the 
and Mandarin- long silky pendent crest of the males, serve at once to distinguish 
USES the summer or wood-duck (4x sponsa) of North America and the 
mandarin-duck (4x galerita) of China from all the other members of the family. 
These birds are further characterised by the beak being much shorter than the 
head, with its base elevated, and produced upwards and backwards in an angle . 
nearly to each eye, while its tip is depressed and covered with an unusually large 
nail. The inner secondaries differ from those of the genera just described, by being 
bread and rounded; and the tail-feathers are not pointed. The two species agree 
in the general plan of their gorgeous coloration, but are distinguished by a difference 
in the arrangement of the feathering at the base of the beak; and also by the 
circumstance, that whereas in the mandarin-duck the tail feathers are short and 
exceeded in length by the under tail-coverts, in the American species the long and 
very broad tail-feathers extend far beyond the coverts. The description of the 
coloration of those beautiful birds would occupy too much space. 
The summer-duck derives its name from being found in most parts of the 
United States at that season, while it takes its second title from its habit of fre- 
quenting woods, among the trees of which it flies with the facility of a pigeon. 
The beauty of its plumage, its graceful carriage when swimming, and the gentle- 
ness of its disposition, make it a universal favourite in America, where it is 
frequently induced to nest in gardens. Going about in pairs or small parties, the 
summer-duck generally lays its eggs in hollow trees, but may take possession of the 
deserted nests of other birds. In diet it is a somewhat miscellaneous feeder; its 
food in autumn being largely composed of acorns. The range of this bird extends 
from the fur-countries throughout temperate North America. The splendidly 
coloured mandarin-duck has one of the scapular feathers expanded into a large fan, 
of which the colour is mostly chestnut-brown, but with a broad purple band on the 
outer hind border. In South America the place of the summer-duck is taken by 
the much larger Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), distinguished by the great 
difference in the size of the two sexes, and the presence of brownish fleshy wattles 
on the forehead and lores; the secondaries being greatly lengthened, and the 
greater wing-coverts short. The Muscovy, or musky, duck has long been 
domesticated in Europe, and interbreeds with the common duck and other species. 
Pochards and The pochards and their near allies the scaup-ducks, which may 
Scaup-Ducks. }e included in the single genus Fuligula, although divided by some 
ornithologists into three generic groups, are the first representatives of a subfamily 
distinguished structurally from the preceding one by having a distinct pendent 
lobe or membrane attached to the first toe; while in habits they differ by their 
practice of diving in search of food, and their extreme expertness on the water. As 
a rule, the sexes are different in coloration; and the males undergo a partial second 
moult in summer. Of some forty species of diving-ducks, as the whole group may 
be collectively designated, the majority are confined to the Northern Hemisphere 
