466 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



Sp. Charact. — Speculum white, crossed with black ; bill blackish- 

 orange ; feet flesh-color, a large circular crest. — Male black, 

 beneath white ; crest black, white on each side. Female 

 sooty -brown, beneath white ; crest ashy-ferruginous, without the 

 white. 



Tins elegant species is peculiar to North America, and 

 inhabits the interior and northern parts of the fur countries 

 to their utmost limits. It is also among the latest of the 

 AnatidjE to quit those cold and desolate regions. It 

 makes a nest of withered grass and feathers in retired and 

 unfrequented places, by the grassy borders of rivers and 

 lakes. According to Audubon, it also breeds around the 

 lagoons of the Ohio, and on the great North- Western Lakes 

 of the interior. On the River St. Peters, in the 45th par- 

 allel, Mr. Say observed them on the 18th of July, no doubt 

 in the same place where they had passed the rest of the 

 summer. At Hudson's Bay, where they arrive about the 

 end of May, they are said to nest close to the borders of 

 lakes and lay 6 white eggs. The young are at first yellow- 

 ish and begin to fly in July. The Hairy Head, as this 

 species is sometimes called, is rarely seen but in fresh waters 

 and lakes, approaching the sea only in winter, when its 

 favorite haunts are blocked up with ice. It delights in the 

 woody interior, and traces its way up still creeks, and some- 

 times visits the mill ponds, perpetually diving for small fish 

 and insects in the manner of the Red-Breasted Merganser. 

 In the course of the winter they migrate as far south as 

 Mexico, are very common throughout the whole winter 

 in the Mississippi, and are rendered very conspicuous by the 

 high circular and particolored crest which so gracefully 

 crowns the top of the head. 



The length of the male varies it appears, from 18 to 20 inches. 

 The length of the bill above in the same sex is 1 inch 8 lines ; the 

 tarsus 1 inch 3 lines. The top of the head, dorsal plumage, upper 



