DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [155] 



gunners group all three under the name "Bluebill." More discriminating 

 sportsmen, particularly those who have shot in the Middle West, use the 

 name "Black-jack" for this species, the name commonly given it along 

 the Mississippi. In life it is distinguishable in any plumage by the gray 

 speculum, or wing patch, which contrasts with the dead-white speculum 

 of the scaups. In any ordinary light, this character usually shows up 

 surprisingly well either when the bird is on the water or on the wing. 



The first record of this duck in Oregon is of one killed on Deer Island 

 near the mouth of the Willamette River, March 2.8, 1806, by members of 

 the Lewis and Clark expedition (Lewis and Clark 1814). Although the 

 species was described in England in 1809 fr m a straggler there, this Deer 

 Island bird was in reality the first of its kind to be obtained and described 

 from America by any scientific expedition. Practically all naturalists who 

 have visited the State since 1806 have noted the species in small numbers. 

 Merrill (1888) stated that a few pairs remained to breed in Klamath 

 marsh, but we have no recent records of its nesting in Oregon, and its 

 present status, so far as known, is that of a regular migrant and winter 

 resident that is widely distributed and of regular occurrence on the open 

 waters of the State. In Klamath County, it occurs regularly on the 

 Klamath River about Keno. Along the coast, it is regularly found on 

 Siltcoos, Tahkenitch, and Devils Lakes and is probably regularly present 

 on many others. At Portland, it not only frequents the Columbia River 

 but is a regular visitor to Reed College Lake on the Eastmoreland Golf 

 Course. Jewett believes that the species has become relatively more 

 common in recent years. Since about 192.0, we have taken numerous 

 specimens and have seen it regularly. We have specimens from Lane, 

 Klamath, and Malheur Counties and from the Columbia River, near The 

 Dalles and below Portland, and numerous sight records and notes on 

 birds seen in hunters' bags, from Crook, Harney, Klamath, Lincoln, and 

 Multnomah Counties. Our earliest fall date is September 2.3 (Crook 

 County); latest spring date, April (Klamath County). 



The feeding habits of the species differ little from those of the scaups, 

 and the food of the three species is undoubtedly the same in the same 

 localities. The single Oregon stomach available for examination, from 

 Klamath Falls, was filled with fragments of mollusk shells and seeds of 

 Potamogeton, Scirpus, and Hippuris. 



Canvas-back: 



Nyroca valisineria (Wilson) 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill three times as long as wide. Adult male: head and neck rich 

 chestnut brown, becoming dusky on crown and face; shoulders and chest black; 

 sides and back light gray; belly white or grayish; tail and quills dark gray; feathers 

 around base of tail black. Adult female: plumage mainly umber brown, becoming 



