ANATtDi;— THI': SWANS. OEKSE, AND DUCKS. 159 



female re.seinblo(l tlie ci-y of the Mallard so nearly that, had I 

 heard and not seen the bird, I should have 8uppo.sed it to be 

 the Mallard."' 



SuiHiENUs Aristonetta Baird. 



Aristonella Baibb. B. N. Am. 1S58, 793. in text. Typo. Anas valUsneria WiLS. 



SuBOEN. CuAB. Culmon nearly or quite as long as middle toe. without claw, and euual 

 fo tlirce times the Kroatost widtli ot the bill; end of bill muh flattened, and nail very 

 slightly hooked. Otherwise like Aythiia, the coloration, in particular, very similar. 



This subgenus contains only one species, the celebrated Canvas- 

 back of wide range but local fame. 



Ajrthya vallisneria (Wils.) 



CANVASBACK. 



Popular synonyms. Canvas-back Duck ; Whitoback; Canard Chuval (Now Orleans); Bull- 

 neck; Eod-hcadnd Bull-neck. 



/I nn.s rrt(/isn«ri/i Wils. Am. Orn. viii. 1814, 103. pi. 7. flR. 3. 

 Fuligula vallisneria Stephens. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. pt. ii, 1824, 196.— Sw. & liicu. P. 



B.-A. ii. ISai. ir,l.— NUTT. Man. ii, 1831. 430.— AuD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 1, pi. 301; Synop, ' 



1839, 285; B. Am. vi. lSi:i. 299, pi. 395.— Cooes, Key. 1872. 290; Chock List, 1873, No. 601 ; 



cd. 2, 1882, No. 724; B. N. W. 1874, 575. 

 Aiithua vallisneria BoiE. Isis. 182<;. 980.— Eaibd. B. N. Am. ISTiS. 791; Cat. N. Am. B. 1S59. 



No. .192.— A. O. V. Check List. 1S8C. No. 147.— Ridgw. Orn. 40th Par. 1877, 6SJ; Man. N. 



Am. B. 1S87, 102. 

 .Elhvia vallisneria SOL. & Salv. Nom. Neotr. 1873.— UiDOW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 



G17.— B. B. &, K. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884. 30. 

 Aristonetta vallisneria Hninv. B.N. Am. 1858, 793 (in text). 



Had. Nearly the whole of North America, breeding from the northwestern Slates 

 northward to Alaska; south in winter to Guatemala. 



Sp. Chab Bill long and narrow, t ho end much depressed, with the n.ail scarcely de- 

 curved, the base high, with the cnlmcn gradually sloping and scarcely concave; culmcn 

 nearly as long as the middle too (without claw), and about three times the greatest width of 

 the maxilla. Adull mnlf: Head and neck chestnut-rufous, the former brownish dusky 

 (sometimes quite blackishi anteriorly and r n top; chest and anterior pari of the back, lower 

 pan of rump, upper tail-coverts, and posterior part of crissum black; back, scapulars. 

 Hanks, sides, and anal region white, llnely and delicately vermiculated with dusky; breast 

 and abdomen Immaoulato white. Wlng-cov.'rts deep ash-gray, llnely sprinkled with 

 white: secondaries ("speculum") lighter, more bluish, gray, the upper feathers edged with 

 bla<'k: tertials like the longer K'.-ipulars; iirimarleK slate-color, the inner quills more ashy, 

 excoptatends, where dusky; tail ilusky. Bill entirely greenrsh black: Iris cnrmlne-red; 

 feet bluish gray. Adnlt female: Head. neck, chest, and anterior part of back raw-umbfr 

 brown, a postocular space and the foreneck whitish, the chin, throat, and cheeks tinged 

 with fulvous; wings as in the male, but coverts almost or quite uniform gray; back, scap- 

 ulars, sides, and llanka with only the exposed ends of the feathers vermiculated with while 

 and dusky, tho remainder being grayish brown. Bill greenish black; iris brownish rod; 

 feet grayish. 



