56 NOTES ON THE 
In the spring of 1863 they were never so numerous, both in 
spring and in fall migration; and in the following year they 
were almost unrepresented 
Again they were abundant in 1867, and comparatively scarce 
in the following year, and so during their entire recorded 
local history they have varied in their numbers. 
They do not remain with us usually to exceed about two 
weeks, when all have moved off to still more northern latitudes 
for incubation. Nothing could be more characteristic of their 
habits while with us, than their seeking the mouths of the 
streams where they debouche into the lakes. When not on the 
wing or in the woods feeding upon the mast, we know where to 
look for them, especially on a cloudy, windless day. The only 
reason I have for thinking that they breed in the northern 
counties is, that they have been seen in several places in June, 
and again in early August. 
Although he found them common in October at different 
places in Otter Tail county, Mr. Washburn makes no mention 
of them in his August observations in the same section, from 
which I am left to presume that there could not have been any 
indications of their breeding there. Mr. Lewis extended his 
explorations much farther north, and finding the males occa- 
sionally, very reasonably concluded that the species bred to 
some extent within our borders. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill as long as head, broad, blue, the end black, the region 
anterior to the nostrils dusky; head, and neck for more than 
half its length, brownish-red, glossed above and behind with 
violaceous red; rest of neck and body anterior to the shoulders, 
lower part of back and tail coverts, black; beneath white, 
sprinkled with gray and black anterior to the crissum; sides, 
interscapulars, and scapulars, finely lined with undulating 
black and white in nearly equal proportions, imparting a gen- 
eral gray tint; wing coverts a bluish-gray, finely sprinkled 
with whitish; speculum, consisting of the ends of the secondar- 
ies, hoary grayish-blue, lightest externally, and the innermost 
narrowly edged externally with black; basal portion of the 
inner primaries somewhat similar to the speculum; tail of 
fourteen feathers; iris orange-yellow. The Redheads are 
easily distinguished from the Canvasback by the shorter and 
broader bill, absence of brown on the head, and a greater pre- 
dominance of black in the waved lines. 
Length, 20.50; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.60; commissure, 2.80. 
Habitat, North America. 
