RED-HEADED DUCK. 199 
and the North River, and others eastward, both in its vernal and au- 
tumnal migrations. This I am the more inclined to believe, on ac- 
count of the great numbers which on such occasions I have seen in 
ponds in the States of Hlinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. 
I found it abundant in the marshes near St Augustine, in Kast 
Florida, on the 8th November 1831, when the young males of that 
year had the breast and lower neck mottled with brown and blackish 
feathers ; and yet whilst at General Hernanbez’s, in that district, on 
the 20th of December, they were in almost perfect plumage. At this 
latter period they were shy, and kept in company with Mallards, Ame- 
rican Wigeons, Scaup Ducks, and Spoonbills, generally in shallow fresh- 
water ponds, at some distance from the sea shore. In south Carolina, 
these ducks are now.much more abundant than they were twenty years 
ago, especially on the Santee River, where my friend Dr Samuge. Wit- 
son has shot many of them, as well as of the Canvass-back species. 
The Red-headed Duck may be said to be equaily fond of salt and 
fresh water, and is found in abundance, during its stay with us, on the 
Chesapeake Bay, especially in the month of March, when it associates 
with the Canvass-back and other Ducks, and is offered for sale in the 
Baltimore markets in great numbers. ‘Chere I have seen them sold at 
75 cents the pair, which was lower by 25 cents than their price at New 
Orleans in April 1837. 
Although they dive much and to a great depth, while in our bays 
and estuaries, yet when in the shallow ponds of the interior, they are 
seen dabbling the mud along the shores, much in the manner of 
the Mallard ; and on occasionally shooting them there, I have found 
their stomach crammed with young tadpoles and small water-lizards, 
as well as blades of the grasses growing around the banks. Nay, on 
several occasions, I have found pretty large acorns and beech-nuts in 
their throats, as well as snails, entire or broken, and fragments of the 
shells of various small unios, together with much gravel. 
In confinement, they do not exhibit that degree of awkwardness 
attributed to them when on land. It is true that the habitual shorten- 
ing of the neck detracts from their beauty, so that in this state they 
cannot be said to present a graceful appearance ; yet their aspect has 
always been pleasing to my sight. Their notes are rough and coarse, 
and bear less resemblance to the eries of those species which are pe- 
culiar to fresh water than those of any other of their tribe. Their flight 
