5:^8 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Female. — Head with a compressed occipital crest; head and neck chestnut, 

 above ashj'; beneath sahnon-colored; white of greater coverts with a terminal bar 

 of ashy (sometimes wanting); the black of base of secondaries entirely concealed; 

 outer tertials ash. 



Head without conspicuous crest, though one is visible in life. Head and most of 

 neck all round very dark green ; rest of neck and the body generallj', except the 

 upper part, creamy-white, deepening to sahnon-red beneath. Lower part of back, 

 rump, and tail feathers, plumbeous; forepart of buck, interscapular region, and inner 

 scapulars, black. 



Length, twenty-six and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, eleven; tarsus, one 

 and eighty-four one-hundredths; commissure, two and ninety one-hundredths inches. 



Although this species is found on our coast through the 

 autumn and winter months, where it has all the habits of 

 tlie other Sea Ducks, it breeds in the neighborhood of fresh- 

 water lakes and streams far in the interior. It is one of 

 the most abundant summer residents in the lake region 

 of Northern Maine, and about the Umbagog Lakes and Rich- 

 ardson Lakes it is the most common Duck. 



There, in the top of some tall stump, or in a high forked 

 branch of a dead pine, it builds its nest. In many localities 

 on the borders of these lakes, the spring inundations or 

 some other causes have destroyed whole acres of gigantic 

 hemlocks, which, standing for years, become, in consequence 

 of the bark falling off, perfectly smooth and difficult of 

 ascent. When such trees are broken at the height of thirty 

 or forty feet from the ground, leaving a jagged top, no better 

 nesting-place can be found ; because it not only secures the 

 bird and eggs from the attacks of predaceous animals, but 

 it guarantees to the nest a perfect security from any inunda- 

 tions that may arise. This nest is l)uilt of leaves, moss, and 

 pieces of grass, which are arranged in a deep layer, on which 

 a thin covering of down from the breast of the bird is placed. 

 This is hollowed to the depth of two or three inches, and it 

 is ready for the eggs. These are from seven to twelve in 

 number. Their form is almost always exactly oval. Their 

 color is a pale creamy-white ; sometimes a little darker, 

 almost a very pale buff. They vary in dimensions from 

 2.80 by 1.80 inch (Milltown, Me.) to 2.50 by 1.70 inch. 



