RED-HEAD 169 



the early morning have empty crops, but in other places I have been assured by re- 

 liable observers that they dive actively at night. D. G. Elliot (1898) agrees with 

 this; he says, "Red-heads feed much at night, especially if the moon is shining, and 

 at such times are exceedingly busy, and the splashing of diving birds, the coming 

 and going of others, and the incessant uttering of their hoarse note, are heard from 

 dark to daylight." Certain it is that Red-heads are more easily driven from their 

 feeding grounds by too much shooting than are the more nocturnal surface-feeders. 



Gait, Swimming, Diving. Our Red-head has the same general shape, posture 

 and gait as its European cousin. 



They get most of their food at moderate depths, at from three to ten feet. Grin- 

 nell, Bryant and Storer (1918) say that individuals are occasionally seen dabbling 

 about in the mud in the shallower ponds. 



Flight. The flight of the Red-head is so similar to that of many other diving 

 ducks that it is difficult to differentiate. When the great flocks pass overhead on 

 their daily trips to the ocean it is not at all easy to distinguish this species from 

 Canvas-backs, although the native shooter recognizes them almost as soon as he can 

 see them, just how it is hard to say. Of course they appear shorter, chunkier and not 

 so light in color. Then again, their flight is not so steady as the Canvas-back's, and 

 there is more shifting and mixing among different members of a flock. The " Canvas " 

 has the steadier and more goose-like method of traveling, but the shape of the flock 

 is about the same. It is doubtful whether any one can tell Greater Scaup from Red- 

 heads at long distances. The flock formation, wing motions and the shape of the 

 individual birds are just the same. The observer has to wait until he can see the 

 colors as a rule. 



D. G. Elliot (1898) paints a vivid picture of high-flying Red-heads: "They appear 

 like a dark ribbon against the sky, and the comparison is strengthened by the fact 

 that every movement of the leader elevating or depressing his course is imitated ex- 

 actly by all those which follow, and so the line has frequent wavy motions, like cur- 

 rents passing through it, as when a ribbon is held in the fingers and a flip given to it 

 which causes it to undulate along its whole length." 



Flocks of migrating Red-heads usually arrange themselves in long irregular lines 

 or in blunt wedges and on a still day a gentle swishing sound may be heard from 

 passing bunches even at a great height. Elliot thus describes the movements of a 

 flight arriving at its southern home: "The flocks rarely alight at first, even when 

 there may be numbers of duck congregated on the water, but traverse the length of 

 the sound or lake as if reconnoitring the entire expanse, and trying to select the best 

 feeding ground. After having passed and repassed over the route a few times, the 

 flocks begin to lower and gradually descending, at length the wings are set and the 



