Plate CCVI. Male and Female.
Male with the feathers of the head and upper and hind part of neck
elongated and incurved, inner secondaries very broad, tail much
rounded, of sixteen feathers; bill bright red at the base, yellow on
the sides, ridge and unguis black; feet greenish-yellow; upper part of
head and loral space deep green; below the eye a patch of dark purple,
behind it a larger patch of the same colour; sides of neck, its hind
part under the crest, and the middle all round, very dark purple; a
narrow line along the base of the upper mandible and over the eye,
meeting on the occiput, pure white, as are some of the feathers of the
crest; another from behind the eye meeting below the occiput, and
including several of the lower elongated feathers; throat pure white,
with a process on each side a little beyond the eye, and another
nearly half-way down the neck; sides of the neck and its lower part
anteriorly reddish-purple, each feather on the latter with a
triangular white tip; middle of the neck behind, back and rump, very
dark reddish-brown, the latter deeper, and tinged with green; upper
tail-coverts and tail greenish-black; some of the lateral tail-coverts
dull reddish-purple, a few on either side with their central filaments
light red; smaller wing-coverts, alula, and primaries dull
greyish-brown, most of the latter, with part of the outer web
greyish-white, and the inner toward the end darker and glossed with
green; secondary quills tipped with white, the outer webs green, with
purple reflections, those of the inner secondaries and scapulars
velvet-black, their inner webs partially glossed and changing to
green; the broad feathers anterior to the wings white, terminated with
black; breast and abdomen greyish-white; feathers under the wings
yellowish-grey, minutely undulated with black, and tipped with a white
and two black bands; lower wing-coverts and axillar feathers white,
barred with greyish-brown; lower tail-coverts dull greyish-brown.
Female with the bill blackish-brown, the feet dull green; upper part
of head dusky glossed with green, sides of head and neck, with hind
part of latter, light brownish-grey; throat white, but without the
lateral processes; fore part of neck below and sides light
yellowish-brown, mottled with dark greyish-brown, as are the sides
under the wings; breast and abdomen white, the former spotted with
brown; hind neck, back, and rump dark brown, glossed with green and
purple; wings as in the male, but the speculum less, and the
secondaries externally faint reddish-purple, the velvet-black of the
male diminished to a few narrow markings; tail dark brown, glossed
with green; lower tail-coverts pale greyish-brown, mottled with white.
_Male_, 20-1/2, 28. _Female_, 19-1/2.
Breeds throughout the country from Texas to the Columbia, and eastward
to Nova Scotia. Fur Countries. Accumulates in the Southern Districts
in winter.
Summer Duck or Wood Duck, Anas sponsa, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. viii. p. 97.
Dendronessa sponsa, Summer Duck, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 446.
Summer or Wood Duck, Anas sponsa, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 394.
Wood Duck, Anas sponsa, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 52; v. v.
p. 618.