FOOD HABITS OF SHOAL-WATER DUCKS. 37 
WOOD DUCK. 
Aix sponsa. 
Pirate VII. 
The wood duck ranges in summer nearly throughout the United 
States, southern British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan, Ontario, 
New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; it breeds casually in Cuba, and_is 
accidental in Bermuda, Mexico, and Jamaica. In winter it occupies 
approximately the southern half ofitssummer range. Its southward 
migration is accomplished chiefly in October, and it moves northward 
rather early in spring, reaching the latitude of central Iowa usually 
about March 20 and southern Manitoba April 15. 
As its name implies, the wood duck inhabits secluded woodland 
ponds and lakes and timbered streams. It makes its nest in a nat- 
ural cavity in a tree, from which the mother duck takes the young 
soon after they are hatched and carries them one by one in her beak 
to the water.’2 The adult male is the most brilliantly colored of all 
American ducks, and probably is as fine in appearance as any in the 
world. Its most striking feature is a large bright green and purple 
crest, striped with white, the rest of the head being of the same colors. 
The throat is white; on each side of the body is a row of black and 
white crescents, and across the shoulders are black and white bars. 
The upperparts are iridescent greenish or brownish black, and the 
breast is rich chestnut, spotted with white. The plumage of the — 
_ female presents much the same general pattern as that of the male, but 
lacks most of its bright coloration. 
FOOD HABITS. 
Although the wood duck often is seen in the haunts of other ducks 
on open stretches of water or marshy land, its usual feeding grounds 
are along the banks of the wooded streams and ponds near which 
it nests in summer. Here it not only feeds upon the seeds and other 
parts of the plants which grow in or near the water, but often it 
wanders far out into the drier parts of the woods to pick up acorns, 
nuts, grapes, and berries, and the seeds of various trees and shrubs. 
Most of the insects and of the other animal food taken, however, 
are kinds which either inhabit the water itself or live on plants 
which grow in or near the water. Some terrestrial species are 
caught, but it is probable that most of these are picked up from the 
surface of the water, as the ducks are not fitted for successfully 
catching active insects on land. They are expert, however, in 
catching those which fly low over the water or glide over its surface, | 
and obtain the kinds which swim beneath the surface (as well as 
12 Kingsford, E. G., Wood Duck Removing Young from the Nest: Auk, XXXIV., pp. 335-336, 1917. 
