88 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



Three specimens ; one taken at Ottawa, another at Toronto, 

 and the third — a fine male — at Agassiz, B.C., May 15th, 1889, by 

 Spreadborough. 



LIV. AYTHYA Boie. 1822. 



,146. Red-head. Pochard. 



Aythya americana (Eyt.) Baird. 1858. 



Rare migrant in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and also rare 

 on the coast of Labrador, none seen in the interior. Rather 

 common in the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, and, according to 

 Mcllwraith, often abundant in Ontario during the migrations. 

 Saunders reports them breeding in the large marshes at Lake 

 St. Clair. 



This species is very common in Manitoba and in the marshes 

 to the north and west. It is found in more or less abundance all 

 through the prairie region but is more common as we approach 

 the large weedy marshes north of Lat. 51". This and the next 

 species are so much alike that they are easily mistaken for one 

 another. Our experience, however, is that this duck is more 

 southerly and easterly in its distribution than the Canvas-back. 

 It is a winter resident on the coast of British Columbia, and both 

 Streator and Fannin report it breeding in small numbers around 

 small lakes in the interior. It has not been reported from Alaska. 



Breeding Notes. — Breeding everywhere I have been through- 

 out the northwest. {Dippie.) The writer has never found the nest 

 of this species anywhere but among the reeds on the margins of 

 sloughs. The nests are bulky, being made of reeds and grass 

 lined with down. 



Breeds throughout Manitoba, Assiniboia and Alberta, and 

 makes its nest in shallow water. It is a remarkable fact that 

 the Red-head and Canvas-back often lay their eggs in one nest. 

 I have never seen this statement recorded in any ornithological 

 work. This was first brought to my notice on June iSth, 1891, 

 when I found a nest at Long Lake containing eight eggs of the 

 Canvas-back and four of the Red-head. There was consider- 

 able difference in the eggs of the two birds. The eggs of the 

 Canvas-back were larger than those of the Red-head and of a 



