BEDEEAD 149 



The female Bedhead resembles a female Scaup Duck but has less white 

 on the face and about the bill. 



The Bedhead breeds in fresh-water marshes, often in company with 

 Mallards and Canvasbacks. In fact it is well known that elsewhere 

 than in California eggs of the latter have been taken in nests of 

 Bedheads. The nest is built either on the ground in thick grass or 

 weeds, or in tules or grass above water, and is lined with white down 

 taken from the breast of the female bird. In the former case it is 

 composed of weeds and grasses, whereas in the latter case it is often 

 built of tules and looks something like a Mud-hen's nest. Bowles (in 

 Dawson, 1909, p. 791) describes the Bedhead's nest as being a deep 

 basket of rushes, placed in the thickest sort of growth, either upon a 

 small muddy island left by the receding water, or built up among 

 the flags upon the matted dead stems which cover the surface of the 

 water in favorable places. 



Ten to sixteen greenish drab or light buff eggs are laid. "The 

 eggs of the Bedhead can generally be distinguished from those of 

 any other species, as they are usually quite different in color, size 

 and texture. The shell is extremely hard and flinty, with a smooth, 

 slightly glossy surface, and quite thick; ... In shape they vary 

 from a somewhat rounded to a considerably elongated elliptical ovate, 

 sometimes nearly oval. . . . The eggs are entirely different in color 

 from those of the Canvasback, which builds a somewhat similar nest 

 and in similar situations, but lines it with gray down" (Bent, 1902, 

 p. 9). 



"Willett and Jay (1911, p. 158) found the Bedhead breeding very 

 commonly at San Jacinto Lake, Eiverside County, on May 28, 1911. 

 Four nests found contained respectively, fifteen, seventeen, eighteen 

 and twenty-seven eggs. The last set was undoubtedly the product of 

 two females, as there were seventeen eggs of one type and ten of 

 another. At the same place A. M. IngersoU took a set of twenty-one 

 eggs advanced in incubation on June 7, 1897. Shields (1899, p. 9) 

 found a nest in central California on June 25, 1898, containing twelve 

 Bedhead eggs and three of the Fulvous Tree-duck. A Bedhead 's nest 

 was found by H. C. Bryant (MS) in some tules at the end of a pond 

 near Alvarado, Alameda County, April 23, 1915. Tall tules had 

 blown over a fence making a dark sheltered nook beneath, and here 

 the nest was placed. Twelve well-incubated eggs and a little whitish 

 down were contained in the nest. The eggs were hatched out at the 

 State Game Farm four days later, and the appearance of the downy 

 young made the identification complete. 



The Bedhead is so similar to the Canvasback both in coloration 

 and habits that it is often mistaken for it. "Its flight is hurried, 

 the bird rising from the water in a confused manner, but being able 



