FOOD HABITS OF SHOAL- WATER DUCKS. 37 



WOOD DUCK. 



Aix sponsa. 

 Plate VII. 



The wood duck ranges in summer nearly throughout the United 

 States, southern British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan, Ontario, 

 New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; it breeds casually in Cuba, and is 

 accidental in Bermuda, Mexico, and Jamaica. In winter it occupies 

 approximately the southern half of its summer range. Its southward 

 migration is accomplished chiefly in October, and it moves northward 

 rather early in spring, reaching the latitude of central Iowa usually 

 about March 20 and southern Manitoba April 15. 



As its'name implies, the wood duck inhabits secluded woodland 

 ponds and lakes and timbered streams. It makes its nest in a nat- 

 ural cavity in a tree, from which the mother duck takes the young 

 soon after they are hatched and carries them one by one in her beak 

 to the water. 12 The adult male is the most brilliantly colored of all 

 American ducks, and probably is as fine in appearance as any in the 

 world. Its most striking feature is a large bright green and purple 

 crest, striped with white, the rest of the head being of the same colors. 

 The throat is white; on each side of the body is a row of black and 

 white crescents, and across the shoulders are black and white bars. 

 The upperparts are iridescent greenish or brownish black, and the 

 breast is rich chestnut, spotted with white. The plumage of the 

 female presents much the same general pattern as that of the male, but 

 lacks most of its bright coloration. 



FOOD HABITS. 



Although the wood duck often is seen in the haunts of other ducks 

 on open stretches of water or marshy land, its usual feeding grounds 

 are along the banks of the wooded streams and ponds near which 

 it nests in summer. Here it not only feeds upon the seeds and other 

 parts of the plants which grow in or near the water, but often it 

 wanders far out into the drier parts of the woods to pick up acorns, 

 nuts, grapes, and berries, and the seeds of various trees and shrubs. 

 Most of the insects and of the other animal food taken, however, 

 are kinds which either inhabit the water itself or live on plants 

 which grow in or near the water. Some terrestrial species are 

 caught, but it is probable that most of these are picked up from the 

 surface of the water, as the ducks are not fitted for successfully 

 catching active insects on land. They are expert, however, in 

 catching those which fly low over the water or glide over its surface, 

 and obtain the kinds which swim beneath the surface (as well as 



!2 Kingsford, E. G., Wood Duck Removing Young from the Nest: Auk, XXXIV., pp. 335-336, 1917. 



