USEFUL I’.IRDS 
37 
prince amongst dncks, capal)le of domestication and worthy of 
most careful protection. \\'hat fisherman, wading a wooded 
stream, or Nature-lover idling- on the bank of a secluded pond, has 
not been delighted by the flashing colors of these l)eautiful l)irds 
as thev leave the water, startled at the approach of an alien, or 
entranced as they disport themselves in sylvan ])Ool, cpiite un- 
conscious of the admiring glances they invite ! 
Dr. P. L. Hatch, in his notes on the birds of Minnesota, 18d2, 
voicing his enthusiasm over this duck, breaks into song as fol- 
Tlie Wood Duck 
lows : “The most truthful and esthetic description of the mature 
male could reach no nearer the limning reality than the coldest 
prose could paint the rain1)ow. Science, after all her most impos- 
ing assumptions, would sit down and wee]) before the task in 
black despair. The impotence of all attempts has smirched the 
skirts of ho])e l)y what has l)een essayed in its systematic, as well 
as its vernacular nomenclature. Aix sponsa ! Shades of Linnaeus, 
weep cold, clammy tears for thine irremedial dereliction ! MT)od 
Duck! Summer Duck!’’ 
Unlike the majority of ducks, these birds breed in hollow 
trees overhanging the water. They are typically North Ameri- 
can, ranging from Florida to Fludson Bay, but wintering far to 
the south of our most southern borders. Protected in Minnesota 
until 1918. 
