The Redhead 



ing habits. Its nest is an "ark of bulrushes"; and although the sides of 

 the nest are bound tightly to the stems of surrounding plants, its bot- 

 tom is usually supported by a semi-buoyant mass of accumulated vege- 

 tation. By reason of its watery surroundings, the bird is able to steal 

 to and from its nest unobserved, that is, by the under- water route, and 

 it is pretty sure to avail itself of this method for escape, when sufficient 



"■* !=S2^ 





%w *^ 



3b -f, 



Taken in Merced County 



Pholo by the Author 



NEST AND EGGS OF REDHEAD 



warning of approach has been given. Whether Redhead's deep basket be 

 woven of dried tule-stems, cat-tails, or grasses, its structure is not deemed 

 complete until a blanket of down has been provided. This, needless to 

 say, the bird plucks from her own breast when the egg-complement is 

 laid. The down is of a pale grayish white, and thus blends with its sur- 

 roundings of weathered tules much more accurately than would the 

 sooty gray of a River Duck. 



It is not alone because of her skill as an architect, nor yet because 

 of her easy-going disposition, that the Redhead is imposed upon by her 

 shrewder neighbors. She is such a very motherly creature that she thinks 

 nothing of raising a dozen or fifteen, or even nineteen chicks, in her own 



1802 



