132 



BIRDS UF AMERICA 



watched both species together diving, and both 

 exhibit tlie same skill and celerity in this pursuit, 

 with no noticeable difference. 



This species, like the others, breeds in the 

 sloughs and marshes of the Northwest, in about 

 the same localities, but is generally the more 

 common. Wherever I have found the Canvas- 

 back breeding, the Redhead has been there too. 

 whereas the converse is not true ; there are many 

 sloughs in which Redheads breed where there 

 are no Canvas-backs. If there is any distinction 

 in the choice of nesting-sites, I should say that 

 the Redhead is even more apt than the other to 

 build out in reeds or canes growing in quite deep 

 water. In northern Manitoba, on Lake W'inni- 

 pegosis, in places where the Canvas-back was 

 nesting in meadows in the sedge, with water not 

 knee-deep, I found Redhead nests among the 

 outer reeds on the margins of boggy ponds. 

 where one needed a canoe to reach them. 



Perhaps the Redhead is not more prolific than 



' any other Duck, but I have found larger numbers 



of eggs in some of their nests than is at all usual 



with others, the maximum number being twent\- 



tv^^o, the most I ever found in a wild Duck's 



with a very smooth glossy surface, almost like 

 billiard balls, and easy to recognize. 



In the Northwest where wild Ducks nest in 

 abundance, it is not uncommon for individual 



Photo by H. K. Jul: Cjurtesy ot Outing Pub. Co. 



NEST OF REDHEAD 



Built over water on edge of channel in a clump of flags and 

 rushes 



nest, and all fertile and advanced in incubation. 

 The eggs are quite different from those of the 

 Canvas-back, being yellowish-white in color, and 



Plioto by H i. J CouilLby uf Uutmg Pub. Cu. 



HARDY AND DOCILE 



Some more young Redheads 



Ducks to lay in each other's nests. The Red- 

 head and the Ruddy Duck seemed to me to be 

 especially addicted to the practice. They laid 

 rather freely in each other's nests, and fre- 

 (juently palmed off their offspring thus on the 

 unsuspecting Canvas-back. 



Both kinds have been kept and studied in cap- 

 tivity. I have reared both from the egg to ma- 

 turity, and under my direction have had both 

 kinds breed. Though the young of both were 

 (|uite easily reared, the Redhead presents fewer 

 difficulties than the Canvas-back. It breeds more 

 readily under favorable conditions, and the young 

 are especially hardy and docile, though the young 

 Canvas-backs, too, are quite manageable. Most 

 experimenters, in time past, have had much less 

 difficulty ill keeping Redheads than Canvas-backs 

 under artificial conditions. 



As a result of this line of experimental re- 

 search, I am confident that in the not distant 

 future both kinds will regularly be propagated 

 on estates where there are suitable ponds. 



Herbert K. Job. 



