duck - Reference Center

More Sponsored Links For:

Columbia Encyclopedia entry: duck

Duck, common name for wild and domestic waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and swans. It is hunted and bred for its meat, eggs, and feathers. Strictly speaking, duck refers to the female and drake to the male. Ducks are usually divided into three groups: the surface-feeding ducks—such as the mallard, wood duck, black duck, and teal—which frequent ponds, marshes, and other quiet waters; the diving ducks—such as the canvasback, scaup, scoter, eider, and redhead—found on bays, rivers, and lakes; and the fish-eating ducks, the mergansers, with slender, serrated bills, which also prefer open water. The surface feeders take wing straight up, while the divers patter along the water's surface in taking off. Ducks make long migratory flights. At the time of the postnuptial molt, the power of flight is temporarily lost, and most of the Northern Hemisphere drakes assume eclipse plumage similar to that of the female. The ancestor of all domestic breeds (see poultry), except the Muscovy of South American origin, is the mallard, Anas boscas, which is found in Europe, Asia, and North America. In the mallard drake a white ring separates the bright-green head and neck from the chestnut breast, the back is grayish brown, the tail white, and the wings have blue patches. The wood duck, Aix sponsa, smaller than the mallard, nests in hollow trees; the drake is a varicolored, iridescent ornament to lakes and ponds. The blue-winged, green-winged, and European teals (genus Querquedula) are small ducks that fly with great speed. The canvasback, Fuligula vallisneria, is hunted widely for its palatable flesh. It has a chestnut head and neck, black bill and chest, and whitish back and underparts. A swift flier, it is also an expert swimmer and diver. It breeds from the Dakotas and Minnesota north and winters on the coastal waters along the entire continent. In northern countries a portion of the down with which the eider ducks line their nests is systematically collected, as are some of the eggs; since the eiders lay throughout the season, these are soon replaced. The mergansers, genus Mergus, also called sheldrakes or sawbills, are usually crested. They include the goosander and the smaller red-breasted merganser, both circumpolar in distribution, and the North American hooded merganser, similar to the Old World smew. Because their fish diet gives their flesh a rank taste, they are called by sportsmen trash ducks. Ducks are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Anseriformes, family Anatidae.

Wikipedia search results for: Duck

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. The ducks are divided between several subfamilies listed in full in the Anatidae article; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, mostly smaller than the swans and geese, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules, and coots. The word duck comes from Old English *dūce, a derivative of the verb *dūcan "to duck,...more »

Columbia Encyclopedia search results: duck

Results 1 - 10 of 45

Duck Lake
Duck Lake, small lake, central Sask., Canada, SW of Prince Albert. It was the scene of the first encounter in Riel's Rebellion (see under Riel, Louis) in 1885. A large group of métis (persons ...
diver
Diver, general term used to refer to many diving birds, e.g., the loon, the grebe, and some ducks, auks, and penguins.
waterfowl
Waterfowl, common term for members of the order Anseriformes, wild, aquatic, typically freshwater birds including ducks, geese, and screamers. In Great Britain the term is also used to designa...
Aylesbury
Aylesbury, city (1991 pop. 51,999), Buckinghamshire, central England. It is an agricultural market for the upper Thames valley and is famous for its ducks. There are printing works, food proce...
Patos, Lagoa dos
Patos, Lagoa dos [Port.,=lake of the ducks], shallow tidal lagoon, c.150 mi (240 km) long and up to 30 mi (48 km) wide, Rio Grande do Sul state, SE Brazil. A wide sandbar separates it from the...
Oudry, Jean Baptiste
Oudry, Jean Baptiste, 1686–1755, French animal painter. A pupil of Largillière, he became court painter to Louis XV, recording the king's hunts in his paintings and tapestry designs. He was al...
foie gras
Foie gras [Fr.,=fat liver], livers of artificially fattened geese. Ducks and chickens are also sometimes used in the making of foie gras. The birds, kept in close coops to prevent exercise, ar...
goose
Goose, common name for large wild and domesticated swimming birds related to the duck and the swan. Strictly speaking, the term goose is applied to the female and gander to the male. In North ...
poultry
Poultry, domesticated fowl kept primarily for meat and eggs; including birds of the order Galliformes, e.g., the chicken, turkey, guinea fowl, pheasant, quail, and peacock; and natatorial (swi...
screamer
Screamer, common name for gregarious, aquatic birds comprising three species in the family Anhimidae. Although they are related to the ducks and geese, they do not resemble them in outward app...

Video Results

DC: WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG ROLL

Channel: CNN ImageSource
Category: Stock Footage
Views: 2 | 49:01
NBC STAKEOUT

Channel: CNN ImageSource
Category: Stock Footage
Platypus

Channel: National Geographic
Category: Nature
Rating:
Views: 1,151 | 30

Sponsored Links

More Sponsored Links For:

Sponsored Links

More Sponsored Links For:

Related Encyclopedia Matches

Video Results

Reference Center To Go