154 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



from water, but always in a retired place. Plate VI. represents the male 

 in the foreground ; the female is entering her nest in a hollow tree. The 

 young are carried to the water in the bill of the parent bird. The eggs 

 number from eight to twelve, and I know of several sets of fourteen ; they 

 are of a dirty yellowish white color, and average in size about 2.00 by 

 1.50, but there is a great variation in this respect when a large series of 

 specimens from different parts of the country are examined. When 

 robbed of their eggs the birds will often lay a second set. 



614. Scaup Duck — fulix marila. Ashy-green; elliptical; six to ten 

 in number, and average about 2.45 by 1.72, with considerable variation. 

 The Big Black-head or Greater Scaup Duck inhabits the whole of North 

 America and breeds in the far north. It is larger than the next species 

 and is not so abundant in the United States. In the male the head, neck 

 and the front part of the body are black, the former with a green gloss ; 

 the back and sides whitish, finely waved in zig-zag with black ; underneath 

 and speculum of wing white. The bill is blue, with black nail ; iris yellow. 

 In the female the head and anterior parts brown ; face pure white. Blue- 

 bill, Raft Duck, Flocking Fowl, and Shuffler are its other names. The 

 nest is made on the ground in swampy places, of grass and weeds, lined 

 with the down from the breast of the bird. 



615. Little Blackhead — fulix affinis. Ashy-green; elliptical; six to 

 ten in number; size from 2.25 to 2.30 long by i. 60 to 1.65 broad. This is 

 doubtfully a distinct species from the last, with which it is found associated 

 under the same circumstances. It may be known by its smaller size. 

 Breeds from the northern border of the United States northward. 



Hab. North America in general, breeding chiefly north of the United States, migrating south to Guate- 

 mala and the West Indies. 



616. Ring-billed Blackhead — fulix collaris. Ashy-green ; elliptical ; 

 six to ten in number; size from 2.25 to 2.30 long by 1.60 to 1.65 broad. 

 The Ring-necked Duck inhabits the whole of North America. In the 

 United States it is an abundant spring and fall migrant. Breeds in the 

 far north — from the northern border of the United States northward. 

 In plumage the bird is similar to the forgoing, but the adult male has an 

 orange-brown ring around the neck ; the female has no collar and the head 

 and neck are brown. The bird may be known in all stages of plumage 

 by the broad bill and gray speculum. 



Hab. North America, breeding far north and migrating south to Guatemala and the West Indies. 



617. Canvas-back — tethyia vallisneria. Greenish-buff; elliptical; 

 six to ten in number; size from 2.25 to 2.50 long by 1.70 to 1.75 broad. 



