[156] BIRDS OF OREGON 



whitish around face and chin." (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young show 

 their aristocratic parentage as soon as they are hatched in the peculiar wedge-shaped 

 bill and head. The color of the upper parts crown, hind neck, and back varies 

 from 'sepia' to 'buffy olive.' The under parts are yellowish, deepening to 'amber 

 yellow' on the cheeks and lores, brightening to 'citron yellow' on the breast, fading 

 out to 'napthalene yellow' on the belly and to almost white on the throat. The 

 markings on the side of the head are but faintly indicated; below the broad yellow 

 superciliary stripe is a narrow brown postocular stripe and below that an indistinct 

 auricular stripe of light brown. The yellow scapular patches are quite conspicuous, 

 but the rump spots are hardly noticeable. The colors become duller and browner as 

 the young bird increases in size." (Bent) Si%e: "Length 2.0.00-2.3.50, wing 8.75- 

 9.15, bill 2..io-z.5o." (Bailey) Nest: Usually a bulky mass of reeds in shallow water 

 with a shallow depression in the top, lined with small bits of vegetable matter and 

 down. Eggs: 7 to 9, pale olive green. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in western North America from central Alaska; 

 Anderson River, Great Slave Lake, east and south to central Manitoba and Wisconsin 

 and south to central Nebraska, northern New Mexico, northern Utah, and western 

 Nevada. In Oregon: Formerly an abundant and still a regular migrant in Klamath, 

 Harney, and Lake Counties. A few remain during summer in those counties and 

 breed sparingly. 



THE GLISTENING white back and dark head of the Canvas-back, taken in 

 conjunction with the long neck and low-brow effect of the bill and head, 

 make this an easy duck to identify, either on the water or in the air. Its 

 flight is swift and direct, and the long neck and bill extended to the 

 utmost give it a trimness of outline in the air equalled only by the male 

 Pintail. It was first definitely recorded from Oregon by Lewis and Clark 

 (1814), who recorded it from the coast of Oregon, probably near the 

 mouth of the Columbia River, on January 2., 1806, and also a few, March 

 2.8, 1806, at Deer Island. Townsend (1839) found it common off the 

 mouth of the Columbia on April 15, 1835, and Baird (1858) recorded it 

 at The Dalles in January 1855. Newberry (1857) listed it as a breeder in 

 Oregon and common on the Columbia in November. He stated: 



During the summer we found them more numerous than any other duck in the lakes and 

 streams of the Cascade mountains. In those solitudes they nest and rear their young, as we 

 frequently saw broods of young there, though the period of incubation had passed. 



This statement is curiously interesting in view of the fact that the Canvas- 

 back does not at present frequent these high lakes during the summer. 

 The only breeding species we now find regularly there is Barrow's Golden- 

 eye, one or two pairs of which may be expected on each of the larger 

 lakes. Bendire (1877) said: 



Equally common during the migrations, and breeding in the higher mountain valleys in the 

 Blue Mountains, where I found them nesting on Bear Creek, at an altitude of six thousand 

 feet. 



These are the only definite nesting records we have found for the Canvas- 

 backs in the State. They still remain through the summer in limited 



