38 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



viously noted by Mr. Boardman during each summer, and he liad not doubted that a 

 few pair remain about there tor the purpose of rearing their young. They have not 

 been seen there in any harge number, and they are rare in IVIassachusetts, a few only 

 being occasionally obtained in the late fall on the southern shores of Cape Cod. 



The lled-head is somewhat abundant on Long Island — where, however, ac(!ording 

 to Giraud, it is not so common as many other species. It is seldom seen in any coiir 

 siderable numbers west of Babylon, being chiefly limited to the eastern part of South 

 Bay, where it is sometimes seen in company with the Canvas-back. Both species 

 not infrequently feed on the same jjlant, the former eating the stems, and the latter 

 the roots ; these are tender and juicy, and it is to them that the delicate flavor of the 

 flesh of the Canvas-back is due. The IJed-headed Duck is also excellent eating, anil 

 commands a high price in the New York market — indeed, it is not infrequently sold 

 to the inexjjerienced as the genuine Canvas-back, Avhich it so strongly resembles. 



About Egg Harbor, N. J., this Duck is more common than it is on Long Island ; 

 but it is not so abundant there as it is on Chesapeake Bay. Mr. Giraud states that 

 frequent attempts have been made to domesticate this species, and in one instance, 

 at least, with considerable success, A Red-headed Duck in the possession of Mr. 

 Edmund Powell, of Westbury, L. I., became as completely reconciled to its new home 

 as if it had never known any other course of life. The Red-headed Duck makes its 

 appeai'ance on the Long Island coast usually about the first of November, and leav(>s 

 for its northern breeding-places early in March. 



A writer in " Doughty's Cabinet " (I. 41) gives the last of October as being nearly 

 the date of its first arrival in the waters of the Chesapeake. These birds from that 

 time on appear in large flocks, and very rapidly distribute themselves over the Bay. 

 Much difference of opinion has been expressed as to the excellence of the flesh of 

 this species ; but the writer quoted believes that this diversity of view is due — in 

 part, at least — to the difference of the food of the bird in different localities. On the 

 Chesapeake, where it feeds in com])any with the Canvas-back, it is said to be hardly 

 second even to that Duck in the delicacy of its flavor. It is not so restricted to ii 

 few localities in Eastern North America as is the Canvas-back; and while abundant iu 

 Chesapeake Bay, is also found in considerable numbers in many other regions. It 

 feeds on the blades of the VaUisnci'ia grass when unable to obtain the roots. It is 

 frequently shot in the waters of the Hudson, the Delaware, and, later in the winter, 

 in the streams of the Southern States. Dr. Bryant found it very common in winter 

 at the Bahamas, where it was the most abundant of all the Ducks, occurring in large 

 flocks, acres in extent. 



At New Orleans, where this Duck was then commonly known as the Don gris, or 

 Gray-back, Audubon states that it arrives in great flocks early in November, and 

 departs late in April. It is very abundant on lakes St. John, Pontchartrain, and 

 Borgne, keeping in large flocks, and not mingling with any other species. There its 

 food seems to consist of small fishes, for which it is continually diving. It is caught 

 in nets in great numbers, and is easily kept in confinement, as it feeds greedily on 

 crushed Indian corn. In 1816 these and other Ducks were thus taken by the thousand 

 by a Frenchman, who used to send them to market alive in cages. 



Audubon saw none of these birds during the spring and summer he spent in Labra- 

 dor, nor did he hear of any in Newfoundland ; and on his excursion to Kansas none 

 were seen to the west of the Southwest Pass. In this, however, others have been 

 more successful ; and this bird has been found on the Texan coast. He mentions 

 it as abundant in November, and afterward in December, in the marshes near St. 

 Augustine, in East Florida. It was shy, and kept in company with the Mallards 



