204 GAME SHOAL-WATER FOWL. 



light brownish-gray. Throat white, but without 

 the lateral processes of the male. Fore part of 

 the neck below, and sides, light yellowish-brown, 

 mottled with dark grayish-brown, as are the sides 

 under the wings. Breast and abdomen white, 

 the former spotted with brown. Hind neck, back, 

 and rump dark-brown, glossed with green and 

 purple. Wings as in the male, but the specu- 

 lum less, and the secondaries externally faint 

 reddish-purple ; the velvet-black of the male di- 

 minished to a few narrow markings. Tail dark- 

 brown, glossed with green. 



Length, 19^- inches. 



The wood-duck is the most beautifully plu- 

 maged of the whole family of wild fowl. They 

 are common to nearly all parts of our Union, 

 excepting the sea-coast, which they rarely visit. 

 " They build their nests frequently in hollow 

 trees and stumps, and from this circumstance 

 probably received their name." They never dive 

 for food, but live chiefly upon acorns, pond- 

 moss, the seeds of the wild-oats, and insects, 

 and are to be found, too, feeding on the scat- 

 tered and waste kernels of wheat and other grain 

 which are always left upon the fields after harvest. 



The most successful method of hunting wood- 



