[151] BIRDS OF OREGON 



than this duck's habit of nesting in trees, sometimes 30 or 40 feet above 

 the ground. How does it get the young down? Various observers have 

 reported seeing them carried down in the parent's bill or on her back. 

 Others report that the young flutter down to the water or ground, as 

 the case may be, using their wings to break the force of the descent. 

 Bent (192.3), who has spent a great deal of time investigating the habits 

 and behavior of waterfowl, believes the latter to be the usual method 

 and that carrying is resorted to only in unusual cases. Gabrielson knows 

 of a pair of Wood Ducks that has nested for several years in an Oregon 

 ash on Sauvies Island but he has never been fortunate enough to witness 

 the ceremony of getting the young to the water. As the tree in question 

 is on the water's edge and the cavity not more than 15 feet above the 

 surface, it probably presents no special problem to an anxious mother. 



Studies by the Biological Survey show that this duck feeds on a great 

 variety of vegetable food. It not only takes the seeds and vegetative 

 parts of many water plants commonly eaten by other ducks but shows a 

 fondness for acorns, beechnuts, pecans, and other nuts. It also takes a 

 small proportion (less than 10 per cent) of animal food, consisting chiefly 

 of dragonflies, damsel flies, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, flies, and other 

 miscellaneous matter. One Oregon stomach from Klamath Falls was 

 filled with seeds of Myriophyllum and seeds and vegetative parts of Hippuris 

 vulgaris, two common water plants of this region. A second stomach, from 

 Portland, contained seeds of smartweed (Polygonum hydro-piper), Triglochin 

 maritima, snowberry (^Symphoricarpos), and fragments of several insects. 



Redhead: 



Nyroca americana (Eyton) 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill little more than twice as long as wide. Adult male: whole head 

 and neck bright reddish chestnut; shoulders and chest black; belly white; sides and 

 back uniform gray, with fine lines of black and ashy; tail and feathers around base 

 black. Adult female: plumage dull grayish brown except for whitish chin, throat, 

 and belly." (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young is quite different from other 

 ducklings, being more uniformly colored with less contrast between the light and 

 dark areas. The upper parts, including the crown, back, rump, and tail are 'light 

 brownish olive,' but the deep color of the basal portion of the down is much con- 

 cealed by the light yellowish tips; the side of the head and neck, including the fore- 

 head and a broad stripe above the eye, are 'olive-ocher* paling to 'colonial buff' on 

 the throat and chin; the remainder of the under parts is 'colonial buff' with deeper 

 shadings; there are shadings of 'chamois* on the sides of the head and neck, but no 

 conspicuous dark markings; in some specimens there are suffusions of brighter yellow 

 in all of the lighter-colored parts, such as 'amber-yellow' or 'citron yellow'; there is 

 a yellowish spot on each of the scapulars and on each side of the rump. All of the 

 colors become paler and duller as the duckling increases in size." (Bent) Si^e: 

 "Length 17-11, wing 8.50-9.2.5, bill 2.. 05 -2.. 2.5, width of bill .75-. 85." (Bailey) 

 Nest: On marshy ground or on floating platforms of reeds in shallow water, built of 

 grasses and weeds and lined with down. Eggs: From 6 to iz, usually between 10 and 

 15, grayish white or pale olive (Plate 14, B). 



