124 The Water-fowl Family 



Habitat — Breeds from Michigan, possibly Indiana, Minnesota, 

 Nebraska, Missouri, possibly Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and 

 California, and reported as breeding in Maine, north to the fur 

 countries west of Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and 

 British Columbia. Winters from Maryland, rarely north to 

 Massachusetts, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Wyoming, Arizona, 

 Nevada, and British Columbia, south to the West Indies, Mexico, 

 and Lower California. In the migrations, found occasionally on 

 the Atlantic, north to the coast of Labrador. 



The red-head is an associate of the canvas-back 

 in many localities and a close second in popular- 

 ity. The same persecution along the eastern 

 coast has decimated the flocks and driven the 

 birds away, yet small numbers are still seen in 

 their old haunts, while the canvas-back are prac- 

 tically gone. 



The lakes and watercourses of our Western 

 states were the former resorts of countless myr- 

 iads of these birds, and even now in Minnesota, 

 Dakota, and Montana the red-head is still abun- 

 dant, breeding in the prairie sloughs, and north 

 into Manitoba on the shores and islands of wild 

 marshy lakes. Here red-heads breed in colonies 

 by themselves or in the company of mallards. 

 The nest is somewhat elevated, constructed of 

 grass and loose material, carefully canopied over, 

 frequently built up from the bottom in shallow 

 water among clumps of rushes. The eggs are 

 eight to twenty in number, and with them are occa- 

 sionally seen those of the ruddy duck. Incuba- 

 tion is begun in early June, and the duck is left 



