SEA AND BAY DUCKS 



(Subfamily FuliguUnce) 



Redhead 



(Aythyra americana) 



Called also: AMERICAN POCHARD 



Length— \(^ to 20 inches. 



Male — Well rounded head and throat, bright reddish chestnut, 

 with coppery reflection; lower neck, lower back, and fore 

 parts of body above and below, black; rest of the back, 

 sides, and shoulders waved with black and white lines of 

 equal width, that give the parts a silvery gray aspect. Wings 

 brownish gray, minutely dotted with white; wing patch 

 ashy, bordered with black; wing linings chiefly white like the 

 under parts. Bill, which is less than two inches long, dull 

 blue, with a black band at end. Legs and feet grayish brown. 



Female — Upper parts dull grayish brown ; darker on lower back, 

 the feathers edged with buff or ashy, giving them a mottled 

 appearance; forehead wholly brown; line behind eye and 

 cheeks reddish; upper throat white; neck buff; breast and 

 sides grayish brown washed with buff, and shading into 

 white underneath; an indistinct bluish gray band across end 

 of bill. 



Range — North America at large; nesting from California and 

 Minnesota northward, and wintering south of Virginia to 

 West Indies. 



Season — Spring and autumn migrant, or winter visitor. 



Caterers not up in ornithology very often have this common 

 wild duck of the market stalls palmed off on them, at a fancy 

 price, for canvasbacks; and the tyro on the duck shores of the 

 Chesapeake and our inland lakes just as frequently confuses these 

 two species. Here are a few aids to identification offered in the 

 interest of science, and not because any sympathy need be felt for 

 one who is compelled to eat a redhead, the peer of any table duck. 



The bill of the canvasback is a full half inch longer than that 



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