698 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIBOSTBES — ANSEBES. 
long coverts. A peculiar as well as most beautiful genus; the Chinese Mandarin Duck, A. 
galericulata, is still more remarkably, though not more elegantly, colored than ours. 
719. A. spon'sa. (Lat. sponsa, betrothed: i. e., as if in wedding dress. Fig. 484.) Wood Duck. 
Summer Duck. ^^The Bride." Adult ^ : Bill pinkish- white, with lake-red base, black 
ridge, tip, and under mandible ; iris and edges of eyelids red ; feet orange, with black claws. 
Upper part of the head, including crest, glistening green and purple ; a narrow white line over 
eye from bill to occiput, and another behind eye to nape, these white lines mixing in the crest. 
A broad white patch on the throat, forking behind, one branch mounting head behind eye^ the 
other passing to side of neck. Sides and front of lower neck and fore breast rich purplish-chest- 
nut, prettily marked with several chains of angular white spots. A large white black-edged 
crescent of enlarged feathers in front of the wing. Under parts pure white, the sides yellow- 
ish-gray vermiculated witli black and white wavy bars; the enlarged flank-feathers broadly 
rayed with black and white ; the lining of the 
wings white barred with grayish-brown, of 
which color is the crissum. Upper parts gen- 
erally lustrous with bronzy-green and purple ; 
scapulars and inner secondaries velvet-black, 
glossed with purple and green ; a green spec- 
ulum, succeeded by white tips of the seconda- 
ries ; primaries frosted on outer webs near end. 
Adult 9 • Little or no crest, but lengthened 
feathers on nape ; no enlargement or special 
colorings of feathers about the wings. Bill 
dusky : feet yellowish-dusky. Head and neck 
gray, darker on crown, the chin and parts 
about bill and eyes white. Fore neck, breast 
and sides of body yellowish -brown, mottled 
with dark gray, the breast spotted with brown, 
the belly white. Upper parts dark brown Fig. 484. — Wood Duck. (From Tenney, after Audubon.) 
with considerable gloss ; wings much as in the male, but the velvety-black reduced. Length 
18.00-20.00; extent about 28.00; wing 9.00; tail 4.50; bill 1.40; tarsus the same ; middle 
toe and claw 2.00. N. Am. at large, but especially U. S., breeding throughout its range, 
wintering chiefly in the South. This exquisite bird is commonly dispersed in wooded portions 
of the country near water ; it nestles usually in the hollows of trees, whence the young are 
transported in the bill of the parent. Eggs about a dozen, very variable in number, of pale 
drab color and the usual smooth shell and elliptical shape, about 2.00 X 1-50. 
68. Subfamily FULICULIN>E: Sea Ducks. 
Fig. 486. — Ked-bead. (From 
Lewis.) 
Tarsi scutellate in front ; hind toe 
lohate. The large membranous flap 
depending from the hind toe dis- 
tinguishes this group from the pre- 
ceding, probably without exception. 
While the general fonn is the same 
as that of the Anatines, the feet 
are notably larger, with relatively 
shorter tarsi, longer toes (the outer 
scarcely or not shorter than the mid- 
dle), and broader webs; they are 
also placed somewhat further back, 
