70 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



was found in a hollow pine-tree stump twenty feet from the ground. In this 

 instance the entrance to the nest was through the top. In Florida, I once found 

 a nest of this species in a hole excavated by a Flicker, one and one-half miles from 

 the nearest body of water. In the breeding season, when the birds are going to and 

 from their nest, the female always leads, flying usually a few yards in advance 

 of her mate. 



"Wood Ducks are choice food, and as a result of their constant persecution are 

 rapidly becoming exterminated in many parts of the State, a fate doubtless being 

 hastened by the draining of ponds and swamps. Their numbers are so reduced 

 that, in my opinion, their killing should be prohibited by law at all times. 



"From the time the little ones reach the water until they are able to fly, there 

 are few birds more skilled in making themselves invisible on the approach of danger. 

 Swimming with neck outstretched and head flat on the surface, slipping as quietly 

 as a snake among the lily-pads and water-grasses, or diving, if surprised in the 

 open, a young Wood Duck is not easily seen and is much less easily captured. 



"Observers seem to agree that the young are usually taken from the nest to the 

 water in the bill of the parent." PEARSON. 



Genus Marila (Oken) 



This genus comprises five species of our sea- or diving-ducks, four of them being 

 among the best known of all our species. 



1. Bill not wider toward end than at base; male with head and neck reddish. See 2. 



1. Bill wider toward end than at base; male with head and neck black. See 3. 



2. Bill much shorter than middle toe without claw. Redhead. 



2. Bill as long as middle toe without claw. Canvasback. 



3. Speculum bluish gray. Ring-necked Duck. 



3. Speculum white. See 4. 



4. Flanks white, unmarked; size larger, wing 8.25 or more. Scaup Duck. 



4. Flanks zigzagged with blackish; smaller; wing 8.25 or less. Lesser Scaup Duck. 



52. Marila americana (Eyt.}. REDHEAD. 



Ad. cf. Head and throat bright rufous; lower neck, breast, back of neck and upper back 

 black; rest of back and scapulars finely barred with wavy black and white lines of equal width; 

 wing-coverts brownish gray; upper tail-coverts black; belly white, lower belly more or less 

 finely barred with black; under tail-coverts black; sides like back. Ad. 9 Upperparts dark 

 grayish brown, darker on rump, the feathers more or less margined with buffy or ashy; sides 

 of head lighter; upper throat white; neck buffy ochraceous; breast and sides grayish brown, 

 more or less washed or margined with buffy or buffy ochraceous; belly white; lower belly and 

 under tail-coverts tinged with ochraceous; an indistinct bluish-gray band across end of bill. 

 L., 19.00; W., 8.90; Tar., 1.55: B., 1.85. 



Remarks. This species is frequently confused with the Canvasback, from which it may be 

 distinguished by the characters given under that species. 



The female Redhead suggests the female Ring-neck in coloration, but the latter is browner, 

 and they can be also distinguished with certainty by the difference in their size. (Chap., 

 Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. North America, breeds from northern United States northward, winters from Mary- 

 land to Mexico. 



Range in North Carolina. Coastal region in winter. 



To the market-hunter of the North Carolina coast the Redhead is an exceedingly 

 important bird. Coming, as it does, in immense flocks in the early autumn and 

 remaining usually throughout the winter, the fine quality of the flesh and the oppor- 



