ANATIDJi;— THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DICKS. 155 



The exquisitely beautiful Wood Duck, or Summer Duck, is 

 very generally distributed throughout the timbered portions of 

 IlHnois, its favorite haunts being wooded bottom-lands, where 

 it frequents the streams and ponds, and nests in hollows of the 

 largest trees. It usually comes from the south very early in the 

 spring (February or March, according to the latitude and the 

 character of the season), departing again in September or Oc- 

 tober. Sometimes, however, it may be found during mild win- 

 ters in the southern parts of the state. 



"Wilson narrates that on the 18th of May he visited a tree 

 containing a nest of a Summer Duck, on the banks of Tuckahoe 

 River, New Jersey. This tree stood on a declivity twenty yards 

 from the water; and in its hollow and broken top, about six 

 feet down, on the soft decayed wood, were thirteen eggs covered 

 with down from the mother's breast. The eggs were of an ex- 

 act oval shape, the surface finely polished and fine grained, of 

 a yellowish color, resembling old polished ivorj^ and measured 

 2.12 by 1.50 inches. This tree had been occupied by the same 

 pair, during the breeding-time, for four successive years. Wil- 

 son's informant, who lived within twenty yards of the tree, had 

 seen the female, the spring preceding, carry down thirteen young, 

 one b3^ one in less than ten minutes. She caught them in her 

 bill by the wing or the back of the neck, and landed them safely 

 at the foot of the tree, and finally led them to the water. In 

 evidence of the unwillingness of this species to abandon its 

 breeding-place, Wilson mentions that under this tree a large sloop 

 lay on the stocks, its deck not more than ten feet distant from 

 the nest. Notwithstanding the presence and noise of the work- 

 men, the Ducks would not abandon their old home, but contin- 

 ued to pass out and in, as if no person were near. While the 

 female was laying, and afterward, when she was setting, the 

 male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and kept watch. 

 The common note of the drake was peet-peet, and when, stand- 

 ing sentinel, he apprehended danger, he made a noise not unlike 

 the crowing of a young cock, oe-eek. 



"The Wood Duck, has been repeatedly tamed and partially 

 domesticated, and of this statement there are many well-at- 

 tested cases on record. ^ly own attempts to effect this, how- 

 ever, have been unsuccessful, the old birds remaining wild, and 



