202 ' NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



less brilliant in culor. Their ^ilumage is very dense and less inclined to 

 bright colors in the drakes, or mottling in the ducks; but a pied pattern 

 in light and dark areas is more prevalent. The Sea dticks in general Hve 

 more upon the open waters of the ocean, bays, lakes and rivers than do the 

 Anatinac. They are expert divers and often obtain their food in water 

 upward of 75 to 150 feet in depth. Their diet consists normally of moUusks 

 and other aquatic animals more than of vegetable substances, but the 

 scatips and pochards often feed on water plants, and their flesh is well 

 tasted, but that of most of the subfamily is coarse and unpalatable. The 

 Sea ducks are highly gregarious in habit and often flock by hundreds or 

 thousands over their favorite feeding grounds. The subfamily consists of 

 50 or more species, largely holarctic in range, but on the whole, more boreal 

 and arctic than the River ducks. 



Netta rufina (Pallas) 



Rufous-crcstcd Duck 



Anas rufina Pallas. It. 1773- 2:713 



N etta ru fi na A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. (145) 



itet'ta, Gr. vrJTTa, a duck; ruf'/na, Lat., reddish 

 This Old World species has somewhat the appearance of the Red-head, 

 but is f uUv crested and the bill and feet bright colored vennilion and orange- 

 red, the female being dialler colored and less crested. The only specimen 

 from North Ainerica, a young niale, was found in Fulton Market in February 

 1872, and was supposed to have been killed on Long Island [sec Ridgway, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. Bui. 21. 1881. p. 85; Allen, N. O. C. Bui. 6;i73]. 



Marila americana (E^ton) 



(Aytliya americana on plate) 



Redhead 



Plate 16 



F u 1 i g u 1 a americana Eyton. Monogr. Anat. 1838. p. 155 

 Fuligula crythrocephala DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 322 

 A y t h y a americana A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. ^o- m6 



mari'la, derivation uncertain, perhaps Gr. /japiXij, charcoal, from the black head and fore- 

 parts; america'na, American 



Description. Male: Head and upper neck l)rick-red; colors of bodv 

 like the Canvasljack l)Ut darker, not so white abo\'e nor so pure white 



