'riii^:iR iccoNoivi ic ri'.la'i'ions 'i'o tiiI': acrk ri/ri Risr 
21 
worthy of most careful protection. What hshernian, wadini;' a 
wooded stream, or Nature-lover idling on the bank of a secluded 
1 ) 011 ( 1 , has not been delighted by the flashing colors of these liean- 
tifnl birds as they leave the water, startled at the a])proach of an 
alien, or entranced as they disport themselves in sylvan pool, (piite 
nnconscions of the admiring glances they invite ! 
Dr. P. L. Hatch, in his notes on the birds of Minnesota, 1<S92, 
voicing his enthusiasm over this duck, breaks into song as fol- 
lows: “The most truthful and esthetic description of the mature 
male could reach no nearer the limning reality than the coldest 
|)rose could paint the rainbow. Science, after all her most ini])OS- 
ing assnm])tions, \vonld sit dowm and weep before the task in 
black despair. The impotence of all attempts has smirched the 
skirts of hope by wdiat has been essayed in its systematic, as well 
as its vernacular nomenclature. M/.r sf^onsa! Shades of Linnaeus, 
wee]) cold, clammy tears for thine irremedial dereliction! Wood 
1 )nck ! Summer Duck !“ 
Pbflike the majority of ducks, these birds breed in holhwv 
trees overhanging the water. They are ty])ically North Ameri- 
can, ranging from hdorida to Hudson Pay, but wintering far to 
the south of our most southern l)()rders. Protected in Minnesota 
until 1918. 
A bird also uncommon, in tliat it is here irregularly during 
the migrations remaining with us only a short time, and now, w^e 
belieye, rapidly disa])pearing. The illustration is giyen here as 
re])reseuting the ty])e, one of which — the Ring-Neck — w^as dis- 
THE GOLDEN PLOVER. 
