WATER BIRDS. 91 



50 or 60 miles per hour — most species hardly more than 40 miles. Its 

 flesh is held in high esteem, and after feeding for a time on ''wild celery" 

 the bird is considered almost equal to the Canvasback under similar circum- 

 stances. When in poor condition neither species is as good as the Mallard. 



This species is an early migrant ins pring, arriving in southern counties 

 from March 15 to 25 and lingering through April. Most of the birds 

 have gone north from the region of Detroit by the first of May, and they 

 do not come south in any numbers until late October; the best shooting 

 occurring during November and December. Probably a few spend the 

 winter about the mouth of the Detroit River, or more rarely on Lake St. 

 Clair, but formerly the Redhead nested occasionally within our Hmits. 

 In 1879 or 1880 the late W. H. Collins found two nests at St. Clair Flats, 

 one containing seven and the other eight eggs (Bull. Nuttall Club, V. 61, 

 62). J. H. Langille also reported the Redhead as nesting commonly at 

 St. Clair Flats at about the same time, and described the young as "olive 

 green with the cheeks and under parts bright yellow (Bull. Buffalo Soc. 

 Nat. Hist. V, 1879, 34, 35). It seems probable that an occasional pair 

 even nowadays nests in the same region, as Mr. Swales in a recent letter 

 states that he is "assured that a pair nested in the Dickinson Marshes 

 (St. Clair Flats) in the summer of 1901." In Wisconsin, according to 

 Kumlien and Hollister, "even at present a few pairs are said to nest annually 

 in the large marshes about Lake Koshkonong (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 21). 



In North Dakota where the species breeds abundantly, Mr. A. C. Bent 

 states that the nest is well made of flags and reeds and lined with white 

 down. It is usually surrounded by water and is placed among growing 

 flags, its rim being seldom as much as a foot above the water. Fresh eggs 

 were found abundantly between the first and middle of June and the sets 

 varied from 6 to 22, the latter being an extraordinary number, but believed 

 to be the product of a single bird. The next highest number was sixteen 

 and the average number between ten and fourteen. Mr. Bent states that 

 the Redhead seems to be particularly careless about laying its eggs in 

 other ducks' nests. He found one of its eggs in a Ruddy Duck's nest, 

 and in three cases found from three to four of its eggs in nests of a Canvas- 

 back, but never found the eggs of any other species in the Redhead's nests 

 (Auk, XIX, 8-9). 



The eggs are olive buff or greenish buff, with a very smooth and ex- 

 tremely hard shell, and average 2.42 by 1.73 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: Head and neck all round bright reddish-brown, often glossed with purple; 

 lower neck, upper back and upper breast velvet black; rest of back, scapulars, sides and 

 flanks wavy cross-lined with black and white (canvas-pattern), the lines being of about 

 equal width. 'Most of breast and belly white, the latter grayer posteriorly; rump and 

 upper and under tail-coverts deep black; speculum gray or bluish gray, some of the inner 

 secondaries tipped with white. 



Adult female: Without any red on head or neck, or any wavy pencilling anywhere. 

 Mainly grayish brown, darker above, lighter below, the chin and throat alone white. 

 Wing nearly the same as in male. 



Length (sexes nearly alike), 17 to 21 inches; wing 8.50 to 9.25; culmen 2.05 to 2.25. 



