THE REDHEAD. 791 
ing to Puget Sound and its surrounding lakes does not so much as know the 
bird. Personally, in an experience of twelve years, I have seen only one 
example in the last-named section, and this I was fortunate enough to get ina 
little swamp on the outskirts of South Tacoma. 
Save the Ringneck, it is the only member of the subfamily to which it 
belongs, the Fuliguline, that is not partial to salt water, for it is very seldom 
found anywhere except among the fresh-water lakes and marshes. In appear- 
ance it is considerably like the Canvas-back, for which it is often mistaken, 
but one look at the head and bill should tell the story. The bill of the Redhead 
is low at the base of the upper mandible, while that of the Canvas-back arches 
high up at the base and practically makes the forehead. 
As a table duck, when each is at its best, there is absolutely no choice, 
tho fashion has dictated that Canvas-backs should command the fancy prices. 
Any ducks that eat the same food are bound to taste very much the same, and 
as a matter of fact the Redhead is much the superior bird of the two, for the 
reason that it feeds only in fresh water. 
They are essentially lovers of shoal bodies of fresh water, and in summer 
resort in considerable numbers to the larger lakes of central Washington for 
the purpose of rearing their young. One of their favorite breeding grounds 
may be found at Moses Lake, a beautiful body of water situated in the north 
central part of the State. At this place, in the summer of rgo6, it is certain 
that at least one hundred and fifty pairs remained to nest. Paddling our 
canoe along the margin of the lake, close to its heavy fringe of cat-tails, we 
would flush a pair or two at intervals of every hundred feet. As is customary 
with all water-fowl during the nesting season, they were remarkably tame, 
allowing such a close approach as to give an excellent view of the handsome 
nuptial plumage of the male. 
Leaving the canoe and plunging at random into the sea of rushes, fortune 
may favor us sufficiently to permit of our happening upon one of their nests. 
This is a heavy, deep basket of rushes, placed in the thickest of the growth, 
either upon a small muddy island left by the receding water, or built up 
amongst the flags upon the matted dead stems which cover the surface of the 
lake in these places. It is a structure of such beauty as to cause the bird 
student to pause almost breathless upon its discovery. The mother duck has 
heard his noisy approach long since and departed, first carefully spreading 
over the eggs a heavy blanket taken from the lining of the nest. This consists 
entirely of down of the most delicate shade of white faintly tinged with gray, 
which the duck plucks from her own breast. A faint glimpse only can be 
obtained of the twelve or fourteen greenish drab eggs which seem completely 
to fill the nest, but let the sun be shining brightly with the dense green rushes 
for a background, and be sure that fatigue, soaked clothing, mosquitoes, and a 
dozen other discomforts, will instantly vanish from remembrance at the sight. 
