REDHEAD 
146. Marila americana. 19 in. 
Note the shape of the bill of this species, as compared 
to that of the similarly colored Canvas-back. The male 
Redhead has a bluish bill with a black tip, and his back 
is much darker than that of the Canvas-back; eye yel- 
low. The female has the throat white and the back 
plain grayish-brown, without bars. Kedheads dive and 
swim with great agility; they feed largely upon water 
plants and mollusks which they get from the bottom of 
ponds, or along the seashore. They breed very abun- 
dantly in the sloughs of the prairies in the Northwest. 
Notes.—A hollow, rapid croaking. 
Nest.—Of crasses, lined with feathers, in marshes. 
Their 6 to 12 eggs are buffy white (2.40x 1.70); May, 
June. 
Range.—Breeds chiefly in the interior, from Minnesota 
and Dakota northward, and to a lesser degree north 
90 from Maine. Winters in southern part of the U.S. 
