ZOOLOGY. 
257 
g P . Ch._ Male. —Tail of 14 feathers. Bill blue, the extreme base and tip black. Head and neck pale buff, or faint reddish 
yellow, each feather banded narrowly with blackish, so as to give the appearance of spots. The top of the head from the bill is 
pale, unspotted, creamy white; the sides of the head,from around the eye to the nape, glossy green, the feathers, however, with 
hidden spots, as described; chin uniform dusky. Fore part of breast and sides of body light brownish or chocolate red, each 
feather with obsolete grayish edge; rest of under parts pure white; the crissum abruptly black. The back, scapulars, and 
rump, finely waved transversely anteriorly with reddish and gray, posteriorly with purer gray, on a brown ground; a little of the 
same waving also on the sides. The lesser wing coverts are plain gray; the middle and greater are conspicuously white, the 
latter terminated by black, succeeded by a speculum, which is grass green at the base, and then velvet black. The tertials are 
black on the outer web, bordered narrowly by black, the outermost one hoary gray, externally edged with black. The tail is 
hoary brown The upper coverts are black externally. The axillars are white. 
The female has the head and neck somewhat similar, but spotted to the bill. Wings as in the male. The black of tertials 
replaced by brown; the gray of the lesser coverts extending slightly over the middle ones. Back and scapulars with rather 
broad and distant transverse bars of reddish white, each feather with two or three, interrupted along the shafts. These are much 
wider and more distant than in the male Length, 21.75; wing, 11; tarsus, 1.42; commissure, 1.8 •. 
Hab. —Continent of North America. Accidental in Europe. 
The widgeon is abundant in the same situations as the pintail, and at Fort Dalles they are more 
common than any other species. I shot them occasionally in the rock lagoons just above Dalles- 
town, where I found them much more readily approachable than other species, with the 
exception of teal. They breed on the small lakes of central Oregon in moderate numbers, and 
on the northwest coast generally; seem to be next in abundance to the mallard among the 
fresh water ducks.—S. 
AIX SPONSA, (Linn.) Boie. 
Summer Duck. 
Anas Sponsa, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 207.— Gm. 1,539.— Lath. Ind. II, 1790, 876.— Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814> 
97; pl.lxx.— Bon. Obs. No. 261.— Aud. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835,52: V, 618; pi. 206.— Ib. Syn. 280.— 
Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 271; pi. 391. 
Aix sponsa, Boie, Isis, 1828, 329— Baird, Gen. Rep. Birds, 785. 
Anas ( Boschas ) sponsa, Nutt all, Man. II, 1834 , 394. 
Sf Ch—H ead and crest metallic green to below the eyes; the cheeks and a stripe from behind the eye purplish. A narrow 
short line from the upper angle of the bill along the side of the crown and through the crest, another on the upper eyelid, a stripe 
starting behind and below the eye, and running into the crest parallel with the first mentioned, the chin and upper part of the 
throat, sending a well defined branch up towards the eye and another towards the nape, snowy white. Lower neck and jugulum, 
and sides of the base of tail, rich purple; the jugulum with triangular spots of white and a chesnut shade. Remaining under 
parts white, as is a crescent in front of the wing bordered behind by black Sides yellowish gray, finely lined with black; the 
long feathers of the flanks broadly black at the end, with a sub-terminal bar, and sometimes a tip of white. Back and neck above 
nearly uniform bronzed green and purple. Scapulars and innermost tertials velvet black, glossed on the inner webs with violet; 
the latter with a white bar at the end. Greater coverts violet, succeeded by a greenish speculum, tipped with white. Primaries 
silvery white externally towards the end; the tips internally violet and purple 
Female with the wings quite similar; the back more purplish; the sides of the head and neck ashy; the region round the base 
of the bill, a patch through the eyes, and the chin, white. The purple of the jugulum replaced by brownish. The waved 
feathers on the sides wanting Male: length, 18 to 19 inches; extent, about 28; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.40; commissure, 1.54; 
iris red; bill yellow and black; feet grayish. 
Hab. —-Continent of North America. 
The wood duck is found sparingly in Washington and Oregon Territories, where I obtained 
summer specimens at Fort Steilacoom, and winter birds at Fort Dalles. In habits the bird in 
Oregon does not differ from those found in the middle States.—S. 
The summer or wood duck is a summer resident, only arriving in April and leaving about 
October. Its nests and young are often found in the woods of the interior, but it seems to visit 
the coast very rarely.—C. 
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