322 NEW-YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



Rump and upper tail-coverts blackish. Quills and secondaries slate-grey. Beneath white ; 

 the sides tinged with dusky. Vent and lower tail-coverts blackish brown. Feet bluish. 

 Female : Head, neck and breast dull reddish brown ; upper parts dark greyish brown ; sides 

 and abdomen the same. Rather smaller than the male. 



Length, 20-0-22-0. 



The Canvass-back Duck breeds on the Rocky mountains and in high northern latitudes, 

 but its history is as yet incomplete. It appears on the seacoast of the United States about 

 the beginning of November, and at that season extends from the 29th to the 40th degree of 

 north latitude, or between the shores of Long island and the mouth of the Mississippi. They 

 occur but sparingly in the Hudson river, and along the shores of this State. Their chief 

 food consists of the Zostera valisneria, an aquatic plant growing in brackish water ; and 

 when the supply is abundant, their flesh is justly prized by epicures as superior in flavor to 

 every other water-fowl. It is a species worthy to be domesticated, and I am informed that 

 attempts are now being made to effect this desirable object. 



THE RED-HEAD. 



FULIGULA ERYTHROCEPHALA. 



Pochard Duck. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 560. 



A.ferina. Wilson, Am. Orn.Vol. 8, p. 110, pi. 70, fig. 6. 



Fuligula ferina. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol.2, p. 392. Audubon, B. of Am. Vol.6, p. 311, pi. 396 



(male and female). Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 434. 

 Aythya erythrocephala. Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, p. 59. 



Characteristics. Mirror grey ; Bill and feet bluish ; irides yellow. Male, ash, thickly 

 waved with black lines ; head and upper part only of the neck wholly 

 chesnut : a broad black pectoral band. Female, wholly brown ; fore- 

 head and cheeks tinged with red. Length, 19*0. 



Description. Bill about 2'4, slightly dilated at the tip, concave along its upper ridge. 

 The middle toe nearly double the length of the tarsus. 



Color. Male : Irides orange-yellow. Bill and feet bluish ; the former blackish at the 

 tip. Head and neck brownish red or chesnut. Lower part of the neck, and anterior portion 

 of the body, brownish black, extending on the fore part of the back. Back greyish brown, 

 barred with minute white lines. Quills brownish grey : secondaries ash-grey, narrowly tipped 

 with white. Tail-feathers greyish brown, lighter at the base. Beneath, abdomen white ; 

 darker towards the vent, where it is barred with undulating dusky lines. Female, smaller. 

 Head and upper part of the neck dull brown, tinged with red, which is more obvious on the 

 forehead, cheeks, and a streak behind the eye. Upper parts dull greyish brown. Flanks 

 and fore part of the neck dull reddish brown, obscurely mottled with darker. Abdomen white. 



Length, 18-0-20-0. 



