BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



41 



pecker. The eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age of 

 the bird, are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty portion of 

 down, which I believe is mostly plucked from the breast of the female. 

 They are perfectly smooth, nearly elliptical, of a light color, between 

 buff and pale-green, two inches in length by one and a half in diameter. 

 "No sooner has the female completed her set of eggs than she is aban- 

 doned by her mate, who now joins others, which form themselves into 

 considerable flocks, and thus remain apart till the young are able to fly, 

 when old and young oi both sexes come together, and so remain until 

 the commencement of the next breeding season. 



If the nest is placed immediately over the water the young, the mo- 

 ment they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into 

 the air with their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their 

 favorite element ; but whenever their birth-place is some distance from 

 it, the mother carries them to it, one by one, in her bill, holding them 

 so as not to injure their yet tender frame. On several occasions, how- 

 ever, when the hole was thirty, forty, or more yards from a bayou or 

 other piece of water, I observed that the mother suffered the young to 

 fall on the grasses and dried leaves beneath the tree, and afterwards led 

 them directly to the nearest edge of the next pool or creek." Audubon. 



In some twenty odd examinations that I have made of these birds, 

 which were killed in Florida in March and April, 1885, I found only 

 vegetable substances, consisting chiefly of various small seeds, had been 

 fed upon. 



The food materials of eight Wood Ducks, taken in the fall and early 

 winter months, in or near Pennsylvania, are given in the following table : 



GENUS AYTHYA BOIE. 

 Aythya americana (Eyt). 



Red-head. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 62). 



Bill broad and flattened, little shorter than head. 



Adult Male. Bill dull blue, the end black ; tarsi grayish-blue; iris reddish-yellow; 

 head and half or more of neck all round rich glossy-reddish chestnut ; rest of neck, 

 fore part of body above and below, lower part of back, upper and lower tail coverts 

 blackish ; back, scapulars and sides finely waved with black and white lines ; belly 

 white, darker toward the vent ; wing coverts ashy-gray with minute white spots ; 

 speculum light bluish-gray, edged internally with black. 



