NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 155 



This is tJic highly (?) esteemed and wonderfully overrated table duck. 

 When feeding on wild celery the flesh is said to acquire a peculiarly fine 

 flavor, but under other circumstances not one person in ten thousand can 

 tell it from any other duck, on the table. The Canvas-back breeds from 

 the Northwestern States northward to Alaska. It is often confounded 

 with the Redhead, but there is no occasion for this, even when the different 

 sexes come to hand in any state of plumage. Although both species 

 are similar in plumage, their heads alone will differentiate them. The 

 Redhead has a high forehead, while the Canvas-back's head slopes grad- 

 ually down to the bill and the bill rises high on the forehead. In the male 

 Redhead the entire head is clear chestnut-red with a coppery tint, and the 

 bill pale grayish-blue with a dark tip. In the Canvas-back nearly the 

 whole head is blackish-brown and the bill blackish. The general color of 

 the females of both is brownish throughout. The nest of the Canvas-back 

 is made on the ground in marshy places — tall, rank grass is usually se- 

 lected. It is composed of grass and weeds, lined with feathers. 



Hab. Nearly all of North America, breeding from the Northwestern States northward to Alaska. 



618. Redhead — iETHYiA Americana. Creamy-white; elliptical; seven 

 or eight (?) in number; size about 2.25 by 1.70. Mr. A. M. Shields 

 (Young Oologist, October, 1884), in his article entitled "Egging in a Cali- 

 fornia Swamp," mentions finding sets containing seven to fourteen eggs 

 in number. This is undoubtedly correct; I have frequently had sets 

 of twelve. The Redhead is found throughout North America generally 

 and breeds from California and Maine northward. The description given 

 above in comparison with the Canvas-back will answer the purpose for 

 identification. This is one of the commonest market ducks in eastern 

 cities in winter and is readily sold for Canvas-back. Poachard is another 

 name. The Redhead nests on the ground, often among a mass of reeds 

 over water, after the manner of the Coot. It is composed of aquatic 

 plant stems and rank grass, lined with the down from the breast of the 

 bird. 



619. Barrow's Golden-eye— clangula islandica. Ashy-green ; rounded- 

 oval in shape; eight to ten in number, and measure from 2.40 to 2.45 

 long by 1.70 to 1.75 broad. This handsome duck inhabits northern North 

 America, and is found in winter as far south as New York, Illinois and 

 Utah. It breeds from the Gulf of St. Lawrence northward, and south in 

 the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It ma}^ be known by the large tri- 

 angular white spot before the eye running up to a point, applied against 

 the entire base of the bill and the division of the white area on the wing. 

 The head is moderately puffy, with an occipital crest, and the color of the 



