BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 113 



REDHEAD {Marila americana) . 



Male. 



Length. — 19 to 23 inches. 



Adult Male. — Head and upper neck reddish chestnut or brick red, glossed 

 sometimes with reddish purple or coppery reflections; rest of neck, 

 breast and upper back black to bend of wing; rest of back, other upper 

 parts and flanks mainly light gray, with very narrow wavy cross pen- 

 cillings of black; speculum or wing patch gray; rump and tail dark or 

 blackish; belly white; feathers under tail blackish; iris orange; bill pale 

 blue, black-tipped; feet grayish blue, webs dusky. 



Adult Female. — Head and upper neck dull or pale reddish brown or gray- 

 ish brown, darkest on top of head, paler on cheeks and behind eye, 

 sometimes whitish about base of bill, meeting white on chin; back 

 brownish graj^; neck, breast and sides brown; middle of belly white, 

 lower belly brown; bill obscure pale blue with black tip; legs and feet 

 grayish blue; iris yellow. 



Young Male. — Somewhere between adult male and female. 



Young Female. — Similar to adult female. 



Field Marks. — The male can be mistaken for no other bird, except the 

 female Golden-eye or Whistler and the Canvas-back, both of which 

 have reddish heads; its body is darker than that of male Canvas-back 

 and it has a higher forehead; the female Whistler has a snuffy brown 

 head and a patch of white on wing. The female Redhead may be dis- 

 tinguished from female Canvas-back by the shape of head and bill, 

 which resemble those of the male Redhead; she resembles a female 

 Scaup, but has less white on her face about the bill; she still more 

 closely resembles the female Ringneck, which also has a black tip on 

 bill, but is considerably smaller. 



Notes. — A hoarse, guttural rolling sound (Elliot). A hollow, rapid croak- 

 ing (Chapman). 



