288 



ANATIDiE, DUCKS. GEN. 258, 259. 



Cass., Proc. Phila. Acad. 1848, 195, and 111. 82, pi. 25; Lawe., Aun. 

 Lye. N. Y. 1852, 220; Bd., 780, and Stansbury's Rep. 322. cyanopteka. 



258. Genus SPATULA Boie. 



l\ \ '"' Shoveller. Broad-UU. Bill twice as wide at the end as at the base ; with 

 very numerous aud prominent lamiure. Head and neck of $ green ; fore 

 breast white ; belly purplish-chestnut ; wing coverts blue ; speculum green, 

 bordered with black and white ; some scapulars blue, others green, all white- 

 striped ; bill blackish ; feet red. 9 

 known by bill and wings. 20 ; wing 

 9J; tarsus 1 J ; bill 2J-2|. N. Am., 

 abundant. Wils., viii, 65, pi. 67, f. 

 7; NuTT., ii, 375; Aud., vi, 293, 

 pi. 394; Bd., 781. . . cltpeata. 



259. Genus AIX Swainson. 



Summer Duch. Wood Duck. 

 Crested ; head iridescent green and 

 purple, with parallel curved, white 

 superciliary aud postocular stripes, 

 and a broad, forked, white throat 



Fio. 189. Summer Duck. 



patch; 18-20; Aving 8^-9 J ; tail 

 4J-5 ; tarsus IJ-IJ ; bill l^- ; 9 with the head mostly gray. N. Am., 

 abundant, breeding in most sections, nesting in trees. Wils., viii, 97, pi. 

 70, f. 3; NuTT., ii, 394; Aud., vi, 271, pi. 391; Bd., 785. . sponsa. 



Subfamily FULIGULINJE. Sea Duels. 



Tarsi scutellate in front; hind toe lobate. The large membranous flap depending 

 from the hind toe distinguishes this group from the preceding, probably without 

 exception. While the general form is the same as that of the Anatince, the feet are 

 notably larger, with relative shorter tarsi, longer toes, and broader webs, and placed 

 somewhat further back, in consequence of which the gait is still more awkward and 

 constrained than the " waddle " of ordinarj' ducks ; but swimming jjowers are 

 enhanced, and diving is facilitated. A large number of the species are exclusively 

 maritime, bat this is no more the case with all of them, than is the reverse with the 

 river ducks. These birds feed more upon mollusks and other aiiimal substances 

 (not, however, upon fish, like the mergansers) than the river ducks do, and their 

 flesh, as a rule, is coarser, if not entirelj' too rank to be eaten ; there are, however, 

 single exceptions to this, as in the case of the canvas-back. The sexes are vmlike, 

 as among the Anatince; and besides the difference in color, the 9 is often distin- 

 guished by the absence or slight development of certain tuberosities of the bill that 

 the <y of several species, as of scoters and eiders, possesses. A large majority of 

 the species inhabit the Northern Hemisphere ; there are some forty in all, exhibiting 

 a good deal of diversity in minor details, but to no such extent as the number of 

 current genera would imply. Among notable exotics, we have the soft-billed 

 Hymenoloimus malacorhynchus of New Zealand, aud the short-winged Micropterus 



