274 



ORDERS OF BIRDS— DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 



whatever inferior to its more famous relative. 

 When shot in the same locality, I think there is 

 no one who could distinguish the two species 

 by a difference in the flavor of their flesh. 



In the color of their plumage, the Redhead 

 and canvas-back look so much alike that the 

 casual observer might easily mistake one spe- 

 cies for the other. Both have heads and necks 

 of solid rusty brown, but the head-color of the 

 Redhead is the more intense and conspicuous. 



The head of the Redhead has a high and 

 well-rounded forehead and crown, while that 

 of the canvas-back is wedge-shaped, the fore- 

 head forming a straight line with the top of 

 the bill. The Redhead has a short bill, with a 

 blue band across it ; the other species has a long 

 bill, with no band. 



THE REDHEAD DUCK. 



The Redhead (like the canvas-back) feeds 

 chiefly upon aquatic plants, its favorite food 

 being the vallisneria, a kind of trailing water- 

 weed which grows in many of the inlets along 

 the Atlantic coast. 



Through countless generations of diving after 

 food-plants, the Redhead has become a deep 

 diver. It is accustomed to seeking its food in 

 mid-stream of deep rivers, and in the open water 

 of lakes and sounds, where many other ducks 

 would be quite unable to reach the bottom. 

 Reliable lake fishermen at Lakeside, Orleans 

 County, New York, have informed me that they 

 have taken drowned Redhead Ducks from 

 nets that had been set on the bottom of Lake 

 Ontario, at a depth of ninety feet, where the 



ducks could not possibly have become entangled 

 save in going to the bottom for food. It also 

 appeared that those Ducks sought their food 

 and became entangled only at night. It takes 

 a bold and energetic bird to feed successfully 

 at night in ninety feet of water! 



Naturally this fine bird has ever been a 

 prime favorite with sportsmen and "market- 

 shooters," and during the past fifteen years 

 its numbers have diminished to about one- 

 fiftieth of what they were prior to 1885. It is 

 as easily deceived by decoys as green hunters 

 are; and in preparing to alight the Redhead 

 flock has a fatal habit of coming together in a 

 manner called "bunching," which is as deadly 

 to the birds as "close formation" is to soldiers 

 in a modern battle. 



Much more might be noted regarding this in- 

 teresting bird, which must be left to the special 

 works on birds. For many reasons it is very de- 

 sirable that the Redhead should be semi-domesti- 

 cated, and by protection and breeding in cap- 

 tivity saved from the final blotting out which 

 otherwise will be its fate. While it does not 

 breed in captivity as bravely as the mallard, it 

 can be taught to do so, and the prices at which 

 living birds can be procured ($5 each) is so 

 very moderate that experiments with it are not 

 costly. 



The distribution of this bird is given as 

 "North America, breeding from California, 

 southern Michigan, and Maine northward;" 

 but in North America there are to-day more 

 lands and waters without this duck than with 

 it. In addition to its best and most appro- 

 priate name it is also called Raft- Duck, and 

 American Pochard. 



The Canvas-Back Duck 1 had the misfortune, 

 early in its history, to attract the evil eye of the 

 deadly epicure, whose look of approval is a 

 blighting curse to every living creature upon 

 which it is bestowed. Because of this, the 

 unfortunate Canvas-Back is now little more than 

 a bird of history. It is of no present interest, 

 outside of museums and the zoological parks 

 and gardens which have been so fortunate as to 

 secure a very few specimens. Unfortunately, 

 it has been impossible for even the most ener- 

 getic duck-fanciers to secure a sufficient number 



1 Ay-thy'a ral-lis-ne'ri-a. Average length, 22 

 inches. 



