REDHEAD 231 



around eye; old females usually have some scattered grey feathers on head; bill, 

 same as male, but duller; eye, brown. Body. Entire back, scapulars, and rump, dark 

 greyish brown, sometimes finely speckled with whitish, feathers of scapulars tipped 

 with ashy; chest, brownish, feathers tipped with ashy; sides, brownish, feathers 

 tipped with buffy; breast, whitish, shading into greyish brown on belly; feet, duller 

 than those of male. Tail, greyish brown, sometimes whitish terminally; coverts, 

 greyish brown, upper ones narrowly tipped with buffy, longer under coverts, whitish. 

 Wings. All coverts, brownish grey; primaries, brownish grey, darker near tips and 

 on outer webs; secondaries, with speculum of pearl grey, slightly darker near white 

 tips, inner secondaries, edged with black on outer web; tertials, brownish grey; lining, 

 whitish and grey; axillars, white. 



JUVENILE. In first plumage sexes are alike and somewhat resemble adult 

 female, except that they are more mottled and have less clear brown above, and 

 are dull grey brown, mottled with white, below. Young males are darker than 

 young females, particularly on breast and head. During November the black feath- 

 ers on breast of young male appear, but are tipped with brown at first. In De- 

 cember, the red feathers of head and neck begin to appear, and the grey, vermicu- 

 lated feathers of back, scapulars and sides are assumed. By February at latest the 

 plumage is practically adult. Progress of young females to maturity is practically 

 the same. Wing of Both Sexes. As in adult female but coverts of young male show 

 more grey markings (though less than in adult male), and speculum is almost 

 solidly grey. Coverts of young female are browner than in adult female, and 

 the grey markings are generally entirely lacking or are much less distinct. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: General effect: A large, grey-backed, white-breasted 

 duck, with red head and black foreparts. Chief distinguishing features (a) hind toe 

 with lobe, (b) high-domed head, with abrupt forehead (fig. 45), (c) bright reddish- 

 chestnut head and upper neck, (d) bill short, about half as wide as long. 



Most closely resembles male Canvasback, but has darker back, red of neck ends 

 higher and head is different shape. 



AUTUMN AND JUVENILE PLUMAGE: See "Descriptions." 



FEMALE. General effect: A large, brown-backed, white-breasted duck. Chief 

 features (a) hind toe with lobe, (b) yellowish-brown head, with whitish chin, (c) 

 abrupt forehead, (d) short, broad bill, (e) pearl-grey speculum. 



Most closely resembles female Ring-necked Duck but lacks white eye-ring of 

 that species and the two white rings on bill. Bears general resemblance to females 

 of Scaup and Canvas-back, both being brown-backed and white-breasted. 



FIELD MARKS 



ON THE WATER. Large ducks, the male with a puffy, round, dark head, 

 black neck and chest and greyish body; the female with all-brown upper parts and 

 the same shaped head. They are quite similar superficially to the Canvas-backs 

 but the body colour of the respective sexes is darker, and the outline of the 



head will readily separate the species. The 

 females closely resemble females of Scaup 

 and Ring-neck but are considerably larger; 

 if close, the white face-patch of the fe- 

 male Scaup, and the white eye-ring of the 

 female Ring-neck will distinguish. 



