Leonard Muellner has been implementing and supporting the production of O'Reilly books marked up in DocBook since 1994. Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The Definitive Guide is a wood duck. Often considered one of the most beautiful ducks in North America, the male wood duck has a metallic purple and green head with white streaks extending from its bill around the eyes and down to its blue and green, gold-flecked wings.
Females have more brown, gray, and subdued hues.
Wood ducks nest off the ground in tree cavities, commonly with narrow openings originally used by a woodpecker, owl, or other small bird. Their nests can be as high as thirty feet off the ground, and they prefer to nest over or beside water, but will nest up to a couple of miles from water if necessary. Many people have successfully attracted wood ducks to unwooded wetlands by building nesting boxes, which can even be purchased from several birding groups. A large conservation effort in the early 1900s helped bring this colorful duck back from the brink of extinction, and wood ducks can now be found in 38 states in the United States and eight provinces in Canada. Edie Freedman designed the cover of this book, using a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive.