202 • NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



less brilliant in color. Their plumage is very dense and less inclined to 

 bright colors in the drakes, or mottling in the ducks; but a pied pattern 

 in light and dark areas is more prevalent. The Sea ducks in general live 

 more upon the open waters of the ocean, bays, lakes and rivers than do the 

 Anatinac. They are expert divers and often obtain their food in water 

 upward of 75 to 150 feet in depth. Their diet consists normally of moUusks 

 and other aquatic animals more than of vegetable substances, but the 

 scaups and pochards often feed on water plants, and their flesh is well 

 tasted, but that of most of the subfamily is coarse and unpalatable. The 

 Sea ducks are highly gregarious in habit and often flock by hundreds or 

 thousands over their favorite feeding grounds. The subfamily consists of 

 50 or more species, largely holarctic in range, but on the whole, more boreal 

 and arctic than the River ducks. 



Netta rufina (Pallas) 



Rufous-crested Duck 



A n a s r u f i n a Pallas. It. 1773. 2:713 



Netta rufina A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. (145) 



nefta, Gr. vrJTTa, a duck; ruf'/na, Lat., reddish 

 This Old World species has somewhat the appearance of the Red-head, 

 but is fully crested and the bill and feet bright colored vermilion and orange- 

 red, the female being duller colored and less crested. The only specimen 

 from North America, a young male, was found in Fulton Market in February 

 1872, and was supposed to have been killed on Long Island [see Ridgway, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. Bui. 21. 1881. p. 85; Allen, N. O. C. Bui. 6:173]. 



Marila americana (Eyton) 



(Aythya americana on plate) 



Redhead 



Plate 16 



Fuligula americana Eyton. Monogr. Anat. 1838. p. 155 

 Fuligula erythrocephala DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 322 

 Aythya americana A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 146 



mari'la, derivation uncertain, perhaps Gr. luipiXri, charcoal, from the black head and fore- 

 parts; americd'na, American 



Description. Male: Head and upper neck brick-red; colors of body 

 like the Canvasback V:iut darker, not so white above nor so pure white 



