Plate LXII. 



Fig, 3. AIX SPONSA-Wood Duck. 



The Wood Duck, or Summer Duck, is a common summer resident throughout the State. It arrives 

 in March and remains until November. But one brood is generally reared during the season. 



LOCALITY: 



The nest is placed in a tree along the bank, or in the neighborhood of a marsh or small pond. 

 The large sycamores which grow on the river islands, or on the bank of a stream near the mouth of a 

 small creek, or beside a lagoon are favorite localities. 



POSITION : 



A natural cavity in the trunk or limb of a tree, or an artificial hole long since abandoned by its 

 owner, is the customary place for the nest. The structure rests at the bottom of the cavity in the case 

 of a hole in a perpendicular trunk, and upon the floor of the cavity in the case of a hollow, horizontal 

 limb. Its distance from the entrance in the latter instance may be five or six feet, or more, according 

 to conditions and the fancy of the birds. 



MATERIALS: 



The materials are sticks, straws, pieces of bark, grass, weeds, feathers, and down, in varying proportions, 

 the softer materials constituting the lining. 



EGGS: 



The complement of eggs varies from six to twelve. They are elliptical in form, creamy brown, often 

 slightly greenish in color, and quite smooth of shell. They measure in long-diameter from 1.70 to 2.10; 

 and from 1.50 to 1.60 in short-diameter. C. J. Maynard gives the dimensions at 1.05 x 1.55, to 1.15x1.65. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 

 See Mallard Duck. 



REMARKS: 



Fig. 3, Plate LXII, represents three eggs of the Wood Duck of the common sizes and shapes. The 

 coloring is that of eggs which have been blown about two years. 



The Wood Duck ranges throughout the United States; but it is much more plentiful in some sections 

 of country than in others. In Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, and Ohio it is the only native Duck 

 that is at all common. The male is the handsomest of all our summering birds, and rivals in brilliancy 

 of plumage many of our most conspicuous song birds. Of perfect form and splendid action he has but to 



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