132 
THE SUMMER DUCK. 
ing crest adds a finish of peculiar elegance; and hence 
Linnaeus has dignified the species with the title of Sponsa , 
or the Bride. This splendid bird is peculiar to America, 
but extends its residence from the cold regions of Hudson’s 
Bay, in the 54th parallel, to Mexico and the Antilles. 
Throughout a great part of this vast space, or at least as far 
south as Florida and the Mississippi territory, the Summer 
Duck is known to breed. In the interior they are also 
found in the state of Missouri, and along the woody borders 
and still streams which flow into most of the great north- 
western lakes of the St. Lawrence. The Summer Duck, so 
called from its constant residence in the United States, has 
indeed but little predilection for the sea-coast, its favourite 
haunts being the solitary, deep, and still waters, ponds, 
woody lakes, and the mill-dams in the interior, making its 
nest often in decayed and hollow trees impending over the 
water. 
Though many migrate probably to the shores of the 
Mexican Gulf, numbers pass the winter in the states south 
of Virginia. Early in February they are seen associated 
by pairs on the inundated banks of the Alabama, and are 
frequent at the same season in the waters of West Florida. 
In Pennsylvania they usually nest late in April or early in 
May, choosing the hollow of some broken or decayed tree, 
and sometimes even constructing a rude nest of sticks in the 
forks of branches. The eggs, twelve or thirteen, are yellow- 
ish-white, rather less than those of the domestic hen, and 
