Redhead 51 



Key of the Species. 



A. Head and neck brown. 



a. Bill not longer than the head with a concave culmen. 



M. americana, p. 51. 



b. Bill longer than the head ; culmen almost straight, not 



concave. M. vallisneria, p. 52. 



B. Head and neck black with a greenish or purplish gloss. 



a. Speculum white. 



a^ Larger, wing about 9*0 ; head with a greenish gloss. 



M. marila, p. 54. 

 b^ Smaller, wing about 8-0 ; head with a purplish glosa. 



M. affinis, p. 54. 



b. Speculum grey or silvery ; male with a chestnut collar. 



M. collaris, p. 55. 



Redhead. Marila americana. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 146 — Colorado Records — Aiken 72, p. 210 ; 

 Morrison 89, p. 165 ; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 55, 195 ; 06, p. 41 ; Henderson 

 03, p. 234, 09, p. 226 ; Rockwell 08, p. 158 ; Felger 09, p. 281 ; 

 Hersey & Rockwell 09, p. 112. 



Description. — Male — Head and neck all round rufous-chestnut, on 

 the nape and neck with a coppery -red gloss ; fore-neck, breast, fore- 

 part of the back, rump, upper and under tail-coverts and tail black, 

 becoming white on the middle of the abdomen ; rest of the back, wings 

 and sides of the body silvery, finely undulated with dusky ; longer 

 wing-feathers and speculum silvery, not undulated, iris orange, bill 

 dull blue with the terminal fifth black, feet dull greyish-blue. Length 

 20-0; wing 9-25; tail 2-75; culmen 1-85; tarsus 1-50. 



The female is smaller — wing 8-70 — and has the head and neck dull 

 reddish-brown becoming paler on the cheeks and chin, the upper-parts 

 are brownish with the feathers paler-edged ; breast and sides greyish 

 brown, margined with ochraceous, becoming white on the centre of 

 the abdomen. 



The Redhead closely resembles the Canvas-back ; it can be distin- 

 guished in any plumage by its short bill, less than the middle toe 

 without claw, its concave cvilmen and high forehead, and its nostril 

 well in the basal half of the bill. 



Distribution.^ — -Breeding along the northern United States and southern 

 border of the Dominion, from Michigan to the Pacific, and in Utah, 

 Nevada and California ; wintering chiefly along the south Atlantic 

 and GuK Coasts and Mississippi Valley south to Mexico City. 



In Colorado the Redhead is a conamon migrant throughout the State, 

 and one of the earliest to arrive in spring. Felger states that a few 



e2 



