SEA DUCKS. 213 



than does marila. It breeds in great numbers on the sloughs and ■ 

 alkaline pools of northern Dakota and Montana. 



FuH^la collaris. — Bon. Ring-necked Duck. Tufted Duok, 



With a general resemblance to the two preceding ; an orange- 

 brown ring round the neck ; back blackish slightly waved with 

 whitish. The female i-esembles that of marila but lacks the white 

 face of that bird, having the chin, a ring round the eye and the 

 lores whitish. In height it is about eighteen inches. This species 

 is not very common along the Atlantic coast, though a few are 

 killed now and then mingled with the great flocks of Broad-bills 

 that throng-our bays. On the waters of the Western States, how- 

 ever, they are said to be more abundant and are shot in the same 

 manner as the preceding species. They breed in small numbers 

 in the marshes of northeastern Illinois, but the great body proceed 

 north to the fur countries to rear their young. 



Fuligula ferina var. americana. — Coues. Red-head, Pochard. 



Feathers of the head rather long, giving it a puffy appearance. 

 Bill dull blue with a black belt across the end, broad, depressed, 

 shorter than the head the nostrils within its basal half. Male with 

 head and neck chestnut red with bronzy reflections ; foreparts of 

 body, rump, wings and tail black, under parts white, speculum blu- 

 ish, back, scapulars and sides whitish waved with black, the dark 

 waved lines unbroken. Iris yellow. Length twenty inches. Fe- 

 male everywhere duller in color than the male. Always to be dis- 

 tinguished from other ducks by the shape of the bill. 



The Red-head is not common along the coast of New England, 

 but is found during the winter months in considerable numbers 

 along the South Shore of Long Island. From this point south it is 

 exiremely abundant, and nowhere more so than in the Chesapeake 

 Bay and at Currituck, where immense numbers are killed each sea- 

 son. Its flesh is excellent, and where it is enabled to feed on the 

 well-known Vallisneria it is fully equal in point of flavor to that 

 of the Canvas-back. In the Western States the Red-head is an 

 enormously abundant migrant, both in spring and fall. It gene- 

 rally reaches northern Illinois in its spring passage about the last 

 of March, remaining until the latter part of April, when it takes 



