468 THE RED-HEADED DUCK. 



males are quite noisy, loudly uttering their deep-toned 

 me-ow, which is the precise imitation of the voice of a large 

 cat. The female, especially, if rising from her nest or out 

 of the water, has a loud, clear squak, on a higher tone than 

 that of the Mallard or Dusky Duck, and so peculiar as to 

 be readily identified by the ear, even if the bird is not in 

 sight. The gray aspect of the wings in flight is also very 

 characteristic of this species. The nest is generally built 

 in the thick sedges over the water, and consists of the 

 leaves of the cat-tail and of various kinds of marsh-grass, 

 a slight lining of down being added as incubation pro- 

 ceeds. The eggs, generally about 9 or 10, but sometimes 

 as many as 15, some 2.45 X 1.75, are nearly oval or 

 oblong-oval, having a very smooth, firm shell, and being 

 of a rich light-brown tinge, sometimes slightly clouded; 

 scarcely if ever tinged with blue or green. When moist- 

 ened a little and rubbed with a dry cloth, they are sus- 

 ceptible of a high polish. The young, in the down, has 

 the crown of the head and the upper parts, generally, of 

 a clear, olivaceous green, the cheeks and under parts, bright 

 yellow. The eggs are fresh, or nearly so, the first week 

 in June. 



A stately and beautiful bird indeed is the male, as, with 

 head well up, he rides upon the water. A little over 20 

 inches in length, the bill, which is about as long as the head 

 and rather broad, is blue, shading into dusky or black at 

 the tip; the male has the head and more than half of the 

 neck brownish-red, with a violaceous gloss above and behind; 

 the lower part of the neck, the breast, upper and lower 

 parts of the back, black; beneath, white sprinkled with 

 gray or dusky; sides, scapulars and space between, white 

 and black in fine wavy lines of equal width, giving a gray 

 effect in the distance; wing-coverts gray, specked with 



