DUCK SHOOTING. 221 



THE RED-HEADED DUCK. 



ANAS FERINA. 



Description. " The red-head is twenty inches 

 in length, and two feet six inches in extent; bill, 

 dark slate, sometimes black, two inches long, 

 and seven-eighths of an inch thick at the base, 

 furnished with a large, broad nail at the ex- 

 tremity; irides, flame colored; plumage of the 

 head, long, velvety, and inflated, running high 

 above the base of the bill ; head and two inches 

 of the neck, deep glossy reddish chestnut ; rest 

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

 spreading round to the back ; belly, white, be- 

 coming dusky towards the vent by closely 

 marked, undulating lines of black; back and 

 scapulars, bluish white, rendered gray by 

 numerous transverse, waving lines of black; 

 lesser wing-coverts, brownish ash, wing-quills, 

 very pale slate, dusky at the tips; lower part 

 of the back and sides under the wings, brownish 

 black, crossed with regular zigzag lines of 

 whitish ; vent, rump, tail, and tail-coverts, 

 black ; legs and feet, dark ash. 



" The female has the upper part of the head 

 dusky brown, rest of the head and part of the 

 neck, a light, sooty brown ; upper part of the 



