118 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



CANVAS-BACK (Marila valisineria). 



Malb. 



Length. — About 21 inches. 



Adult Male. — Mantle and sides all silvery white, daintily pencilled with 

 fine, wavy lines of dusky; head and nearly all of neck brownish red, 

 darkening on crown and fore face; lower neck all round, a little of upper 

 back, most of breast, rump and tail coverts brownish black; wings and 

 tail gray; below white; legs leaden gray; iris red; bill blackish; feet 

 grayish blue. 



AduU Female. — Head, neck and breast dull amber brown or brownish tan, 

 darkest on top of head, grayish on throat; above grayish brown; belly 

 white or yellowish white; iris reddish brown; bill and feet as in male. 



Field Marks. — The white mantle of the male, the flattened forehead and 

 the long, peculiarly shaped beak of both sexes, and the brown head, 

 neck and fore body of the female, contrasting with the grayi-sh back 

 and flanks, serve to identify this bird. 



Notes. — A harsh, guttural croak (Elliot). The female, a loud quack and a 

 screaming eurr-row when startled (Eaton). 



Season. — Rare in spring; in fall from the last week in October to the mid- 

 dle of December; occasionally winters. 



Range. — North America. Breeds from central British Columbia, Fort 

 Yukon, Great Slave Lake and southwestern Keewatin south to Ore- 

 gon, northern Nevada, Colorado (rarely), Nebraska and southern 

 Minnesota; winters from southern British Columbia, Nevada, Colo- 

 rado, Illinois, Pennsylvania and western New York south to central 

 Mexico (Jalisco) and the Gulf coast; in winter formerly abundant, 

 now less so, in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina; occasional 

 south to Florida, and casual in the West Indies, Bermuda and Guate- 

 mala; in migration north rarely to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. 



