fishy and barely palatable. This is caused by the ab- 

 sence of the so-called wild celery, properly tape grass 

 (Vallisneria spiralis), the common food of the Eastern 

 canvasback. Our birds have the habit of feeding largely 

 on the shallow waters of the tide lands and marshes and 

 of consuming large quantities of crustaceans, such as 

 clams, crabs, mussels and the like, and it takes but a 

 few days' diet of this kind to make the canvasback about 

 the poorest of ducks. I have killed these ducks on the 

 high lakes and ponds of Mexico, when, on account of 

 something they fed upon, they were really unfit to eat. 



Color Male Head and neck, nearly black; back, 

 light gray; bill, black, and forming nearly a straight 

 line from the tip to the crown of the head; belly and 

 flanks, nearly white. 



Female Head and neck, cinnamon brown, paler on 

 the throat; back, dark gray. 



Nest and Eggs The nest of the canvasback is gen- 

 erally found on some little knoll in the marsh, and is 

 lined with dead grass and feathers, and often with con- 

 siderable down. The eggs, which are about ten in num- 

 ber, are of a dark creamy white. 



Measurements Total length, from 18 to 22 inches; 

 the more northern birds within the territory here cov- 

 ered will always be found considerably larger than those 

 of the more southern latitudes. Wing, 8 to 9% inches, 

 and bill about 2% inches. 



THE REDHEAD 

 (Aythya amaricana) 



The red-head is quite a common duck in the southern 

 sections of the Coast hunting grounds. Though purely 

 a bay or salt-water duck, that is, belonging to the sub- 

 family Fuligulinae, it is not found to any great extent 

 on the salt-water marshes, preferring the higher lakes, 

 ponds and reservoirs of the mountain valleys and foot- 

 hills. I found them one season in great numbers on 

 the San Rafael marshes, high up in the mountains of 

 Lower California, and all the shooting two friends and 

 myself wished to do had no effect in driving them away, 

 although the ponds of the marsh were few and small. 



Color Male Head and neck, reddish chestnut; lower 

 neck and upper breast, sooty brown, a mixture of finely 

 penciled lines of gray and brown; speculum, gray; back, 

 gray; feathers on the top of the head almost form a 

 crest; bill, lead color. 



Female Head and neck, light cinnamon brown, very 

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