322 
NEW-YORK FAUNA-BIRDS. 
Rump and upper tail-coverts blackish. Quills and secondaries slate-grey. Beneath white; 
the sides tinged with dusky. Vent and lower tail-coverts blackish brown. Feet bluish. 
Female : Head, neck and breast dull reddish brown ; upper parts dark greyish brown ; sides 
and abdomen the same. Rather smaller than the male. 
Length, 20'0-22*0. 
The Canvass-back Duck breeds on the Rocky mountains and in high northern latitudes, 
but its history is as yet incomplete. It appears on the seacoast of the United States about 
the beginning of November, and at that season extends from the 29th to the 40th degree of 
north latitude, or between the shores of Long island and the mouth of the Mississippi. They 
occur but sparingly in the Hudson river, and along the shores of this State. Their chief 
food consists of the Zostera valisneria, an aquatic plant growing in brackish water; and 
when the supply is abundant, their flesh is justly prized by epicures as superior in flavor to 
every other water-fowl. It is a species worthy to be domesticated, and I am informed that 
attempts are now being made to effect this desirable object. 
THE RED-HEAD. 
FtJLIGULA ERYTHROCEPHALA. 
Pochard Duck. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 560. 
A.ferina. Wilson, Am. Orn.Vol, 8, p. 110, pi. 70, fig. 6. 
Fuligula ferina. Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 392. Audubon, B. of Am. Vol. 6, p. 311, pi. 396 
(male and female). Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 434. 
Aythya erythrocephala, Bonaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, p. 58. 
Characteristics. Mirror grey; Bill and feet bluish ; irides yellow. Male, ash, thickly 
waved with black lines ; head and upper part only of the neck wholly 
chesnut: a broad black pectoral band. Female, wholly brown ; fore¬ 
head and cheeks tinged with red. Length, 19*0. 
Description. Bill about 2'4, slightly dilated at the tip, concave along its upper ridge. 
The middle toe nearly double the length of the tarsus. 
Color. Male : Irides orange-yellow. Bill and feet bluish ; the former blackish at the 
tip. Head and neck brownish red or chesnut. Lower part of the neck, and anterior portion 
of the body, brownish black, extending on the fore part of the back. Back greyish brown, 
barred with minute white lines. Quills brownish grey : secondaries ash-grey, narrowly tipped 
with white. Tail-feathers greyish brown, lighter at the base. Beneath, abdomen white ; 
darker towards the vent, where it is barred with undulating dusky lines. Female, smaller. 
Head and upper part of the neck dull brown, tinged with red, which is more obvious on the 
forehead, cheeks, and a streak behind the eye. Upper parts dull greyish brown. Flanks 
and fore part of the neck dull reddish brown, obscurely mottled with darker. Abdomen white. 
Length, 18*0-20*0. 
