632 BIKDS — ANATID^. 



FuLIGtTLA VALLISSERIA (Wils.) Steph. 



Canvas-baclz Duck- 



Vuligula vallUneria, Kirtland, Prelim. Rep. Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 67 ; Ohio Geolog. 



Snrv., 1838, 166, 187.— Wheaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio A.grio. Rep. for 1874, 574 ; 



Reprint, 1875, 14.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 17 ; Revised List, Journ. Gin. 



Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 186 ; Reprinit, 20 ; Summer Birds, ib., iii, 1880, 229. 

 Aythya vallisneria, Wheaton, Ohio Agrio. Rep. for 1860, 370 ; Reprint, 1861, 12. 

 Canvass-back Dack, Kirtland, Fam. Visitor, i, 1850, 72. 



Anas vallianma, Wilson, Am. Orn., viii, 1814, 103. 



Fuligula vallisneria, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool., xii, pt. ii, 1834, 196. 



Aythya vallisneria, Boie, Isis, 1826, 980. 



Similar to the preceding, bnt bill blackish, high at the base and narrow throughout, 

 not shorter than head (two and a half or more), the nostrils at its middle ; head much 

 obscnred with dusky ; black waved lines of the back sparse and much broken up into 

 dots, the whitish thus predominating. 



Habitat, North America. Breeds from the Northern States northward. Winters from 

 Idle Middle States southward to Guatemala. 



Common spring and fall migrant on the lake, less common on the Reser- 

 voirs, and rather rare generally throughout the State The Canvas- 

 back, the most highly esteemed duck for the table in the Eastern States, 

 ranks less highly in the interior, where it would seem that Mallards, Wid- 

 geons, Wood Duck and Teal, loose little by comparison. As stated 

 above, this and the preceding species are frequently confounded. Dr. 

 Coues gives the following differential diagnosis which will enable any 

 one to separate these species : 



" Some persons experience diffioultj in discriminating between the Canvas-back and 

 Red-head, but there is no occasion for this, at least in the case of males. In the Red head, 

 the whole head is clear chestnut-red, with coppery or bronzy reflections, and the bill is 

 clear pale grayish-blue, wiih a dark tip. In the Oanvaaback, nearly all the head is ob 

 soured with blackish-brown, and the bill is dusky throughout. There is also a marked 

 difference in the shape of the head and bill ; in the Eed-head, the head is puffy and 

 globose, sloping abruptly down to the base of the bill ; In the Canvass-back, the head is 

 longer and narrower, and slopes gradually down to the bill, which rises high oa the 

 forehead. These distinctions of form hold with the females, though less evident in that 

 sex. In the Canvas back, moreover, the back has much more light than dark color, in- 

 stead of an equal amount or less, the fine black lines being very narrow and mostly 

 broken up into minnte dots " 



Genus BUCEPHALA. BmtA. 



Bill feathered as in Fuligula, shorter than the head, about equal to tarsus, compressed 

 and somewhat tapering, nostrils near tbe middle. Tail longer and more pointed than in 

 FuUgula, about half the wing. 



