CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 8. NATATORES. 



323 



:S41^ 



The Ferruginous Duck or Wiiite-Eye, F. nyroca, is sixteen inches long ; common ia Europe. 



The Scaup Duck, F. viarila — called Broad-Bill, Blue-Bill, Black-Head, and Raft-Duck in 

 this country — is nineteen inches long ; common in Europe and America. 



The American Scaup Duck, 

 F. mai-iloides — the Creek 

 Broad-Bill of DeKay — is com- 

 mon in North America; acci- 

 dental in Europe. (See p. 324.) 

 The Bastard Broad-Bill, 

 F. riijitorques — the Ring-Neck 

 Duck of Audubon — IG inches 

 long, is found from Massachu- 

 setts to Mexico. 



The Canvas-Back, F. valisne- 

 ria — Aythya vulisneria of Bona- 

 parte — is 20 inches long ; gen- 

 eral color above grayish-white, 

 with numerous minute undulat- 

 ing bars of black ; rump black- 

 ish ; head and neck chestnut 

 red ; neck and breast brownish- 

 black ; beneath white. It is al- 

 together an American bird ; 

 stands unrivaled for the table ; 

 breeds in high northern lati- 

 tudes ; appears on our coasts 

 from the North about the mid- 

 dle of October. Wilson says : 

 "A few descend to the Hudson 

 and Delaware, but the great 

 body resort to the numerous 

 rivers belonging to and in the 

 neighborhood of Chesapeake 

 Bay, particularly the Susque- 

 hannahi the Patapsco, Poto- 

 mac, and James Rivers, which 

 appear to be their general winter 

 rendezvous. Beyond this, to the 

 south, I can find no certain ac- 

 counts of them. At the Sus- 

 quehannah, they are called Can- 

 vas-Backs ; on the Potomac, 

 White-Backs ; and on James 

 River, Sheldrakes. They are 

 seldom found at a great distance 

 up any of these rivers, or even in 



THE RED-CRESTED WHISTLING DUCK. 



THE POCHARD. (See p. 3^2.) 



the salt-water bay ; but in that particular part of tide-water where a certain grass-like plant grows, on 

 the roots of which they feed. This plant, which is said to be a species of valisneria, grows on fresh- 

 water shoals of from seven to nine feet, in long, narrow, grass-like blades, of four or five feet m lengtli ; 

 the root is white, and has some resemblance to small celery. This grass is in many places so thick 

 that a boat can with difficulty be rowed through it, it so impedes the oars. The shores are lined with 

 large quantities of it, torn up by the ducks, and drifted up by the winds, lying, like hay, in wind- 

 rows. Wherever this plant grows in abundance, the Canvas-Backs may be expected, either to 



