101 



Genus AYTHYA Boie. (Page 85, pi. XXIV., figs. 1-3.) 



Species. 



Common Ch.\racters. — Adult males with tho head and part of the neck uni- 

 form chestnut or black, the lower neck uniform black (except in a few exotic 

 species) ; back and scapulars waved with white and black ; speculum bluish gray, 

 or white, tipped with black ; lower parts white. Adult females with head, neck, 

 chest, and upper parts plain brownish, the head paler or whitish next the bill ; 

 speculum as in the male. 



(('. Culmen longer than inner toe, with claw ; bill not wider near end than at base ; 

 head and neck reddish in adult males. 

 6'. Bill much shorter than middle toe without claw, its greatest width nearly 

 half the length of the culmen, the end moderately depressed, and the 

 nail decidedly hooked. (Subgenus Aythya.) 



c". Adult male : Head and upper half of neck rich chestnut-red, glossed 

 with reddish purple ; lower neck, chest, upper back, rump, and tail- 

 coverts (above and below) black ; back, scapulars, sides, and flanks 

 waved or vermiculated with white and black, in nearly equal pro- 

 portion ; belly immaculate white. Adult female : Head and neck 

 grayish brown, darker above, the fore part of the former lighter, 

 almost white on chin and upper throat; back, scapulars, chest, sides, 

 and flanks dull graj-ish brown, the feathers tipped with paler, or 

 fulvous. Downy young : Above ochraceous olive-brown, with an 

 indistinct yellowish spot behind each w-ing, another on the hind 

 border of the arm-wing, and a third on each side of the rump ; 

 whole sides of head and neck, with lower parts in general, deep 

 buff-yellow, paler and duller on belly and ventral region ; no dark 

 markings on side of head. Length 17.00-21.00, wing 8.50-9.25, 

 culmen 2.05-2.25, greatest width of bill .75-.85. Eggs 2.42 X 1-73, 

 pale olive-buff or pale dull greenish buff. Hab. "Whole of Xorth 

 America, breeding from Maine and California northward. 



146. A. americana (Eyt.). Redhead. 



(?. Adult male: Head and whole neck chestnut-rufous, without distinct 

 purple gloss ; back, scapulars, and whole lower parts, except chest 

 and under tail-coverts, white, everywhere finely waved or vermic- 

 ulated with dusky ; otherwise like A. americana, but upper man- 

 dible (in life) pale blue onh- between nostril and end, the basal por- 

 tion being dusky. Adult female: Differing from the same sex of 

 A. americana chief!}' in tho color of the bill (hardly appreciable in 

 dried specimens) and in the different proportions. "Wing 8.00-8.50, 

 culmen 2.20-2.40. greatest width of bill .70-.78. Hab. Europe, with 

 portions of Africa and Asia. A. ferina (Lixn.). Pochard.' 



I Ana, ferina Lis.s., S. N. ed. 10, i. 1758, 126. Aythya ferina BoiE, Isis, 1822, 561. 



