Wilson's American ornithology - with notes by Jardine; to which is added a synopsis of American birds, including those described by Bonaparte, Audubon, Nuttall, and Richardson (1840) (14565665077)

Identifier: wilsonsamericano00wils (find matches)
Title: Wilson's American ornithology : with notes by Jardine ; to which is added a synopsis of American birds, including those described by Bonaparte, Audubon, Nuttall, and Richardson
Year: 1840 (1840s)
Authors: Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813 Brewer, T. M. (Thomas Mayo), 1814-1880
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Boston : Otis, Broaders, and Co.
Contributing Library: University of Pittsburgh Library System
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation



Text Appearing Before Image:
receive it in thecontrary proportion of breadth; and instead of lying flat, in some stand perpen-dicular to the back. They are all adorned with an ample crest, pendulous, andrunning down the back of the neck. Thev are easily domesticated, but I do notknow that they have been yet of much utility in this state, being more kept on ac-count of their beauty, and few have been introduced except to our menageries 5with a little trouble at first, they might form a much more common ornament aboutour artificial pieces of water, it is the only form of a Tree Duck common to thiscontinent; in other countries there are, however, two or three others of very greatimportance in the natural system, whose structure and habits have yet been almostentirely overlooked or lost sight of. These seem to range principally over India,and more sparingly in Africa ; and the Summer Duck is the solitary instance, theUnited Stales the nearly extreme limit, of its own peculiarities in this division ofthe world. —Ed.
Text Appearing After Image:
SUMMER DUCK. 599 the Wood Duck, from the circumstance of its breedinof in hollow trees ;and the Summer Duck, from remaininsf with us chiefly during- thesummer. It is familiarly known in every quarter of the United States,from Florida to Lake Ontario, in the neijrhborhood of which latterplace I have myself met with it in October. It rarely visits the sea-shore, or salt marshes, its favorite haunts beinf^ the solitary, deep, andmuddy creeks, ponds, and mill-dams of the interior, making its nestfrequently in old, hollow trees that overhang the water. The Summer Duck is equally well known in Mexico and many ofthe West India islands. During the whole of our winters, they areoccasionally seen in the states south of the Potomac. On the 10thof January, I met with two on a creek near Petersburgh, in Virginia.In the more northern districts, however, they are migratory. In Penn-sylvania, the female usually begins to lay late in April or early inMay. Instances have been known where the nest was c