SUMMER DUCK. 213 



the ducklings will spread their tiny pinions, and boldly throw themselves into the water, 

 their wings sufficiently breaking the force of their descent; in other cases they are 

 carried by their parent, as before described, one by one to the ground, and then to the 

 water. 



The Summer Duck is readily induced to submit to confinement, and is kept, by many 

 in this country, for ornamental purposes. In America, where it is so common, their 

 taming has been carried to a great extent; thus, Wilson says — "This beautiful bird has 

 been often tamed, and soon becomes so familiar as to permit one to stroke its back with 

 the hand. I have seen individuals so tamed in various parts of the Union. Captain 

 Boyer, collector of the port of Havre-de-Grace, informs me that about forty years ago, 

 a Mr. Nathan Nichols, who lived on the west side of Gunpowder Creek, had a whole 

 yard swarming with Summer Ducks, which he had tamed and completely domesticated, 

 so that they bred and were as familiar as any other tame fowls; that he, (Captain 

 Bover,) himself saw them in that state, but does not know what became of them." 



No duck is more ornamental on artificial water than the Summer Duck; and 

 although semi-domesticated in many parts of England, we are surprised that it is not 

 more commonly introduced; more particularly as it breeds readily in proper localities, 

 as is evidenced by its having done so freely in the Zoological Gardens in London. 



The adult male has the "bill red, margined with black; a spot of black lies between 

 the nostrils, reaching nearly to the tip, which is also of the same colour, and furnished 

 with a large hooked nail ; irides, orange red ; front, crown, and pendent crest, rich glossy 

 bronze green, ending in violet, elegantly marked with a line of pure white, running from 

 the upper mandible over the eye, and with another band of white proceeding from 

 behind the eye, both mingling their long pendent plumes with the green and violet ones, 

 producing a rich effect. Cheeks and sides of the upper neck, violet; chin, throat, and 

 collar round the neck, pure white, curving up in the form of a crescent nearly to the 

 posterior part of the eye; the white collar is bounded below with black. Breast, dark 

 violet brown, marked on the fore part with minute triangular spots of white, increasing 

 in size until they spread into the white of the belly; each side of the breast is bounded 

 by a large crescent of white, and that again by a broader "one of deep black; sides, 

 under the wings, thickly and beautifully marked with fine undulating parallel lines of 

 black, on a ground of yellowish drab ; the flanks are ornamented with broad semicircular 

 bands of black and white. Sides of the vent, rich light violet; tail coverts, long, of a 

 hair-like texture at . the sides, over which they descend, and of a deep black, glossed 

 with green; back, dusky bronze, reflecting green. Scapulars, black; tail, tapering, dark 

 glossy green above; below, dusky; primaries, dusky, silvery hoary without, tipped with 

 violet blue; secondaries, greenish blue, tipped with white; wing coverts, violet blue, 

 tipped with black; vent, dusky; legs and feet, yellowish red; claws, strong and hooked." 



