BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



11 



of the small coleopters, called Donatias, which are seen so nimbly 

 nying over or resting on the leaves of the Pond lily (Nymphcea)', they 

 are therefore very alert in quest of their prey, or they could never 

 capture the wary insects." 



In some twenty odd examinations that I have made of these birds, 

 which were killed in Florida in March and April, 1885, I found only 

 vegetable substances, consisting chiefly of various small seeds, had 

 been fed upon. 



GENUS AYTHYA. BOIE. 

 146. Aythya americana (EYT). 



Red-head. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Bill as long as the head, broad, blue, the end black ; the region anterior to the nos- 

 trils dusky ; head, and neck for more than half its length, brownish-red, glossed 

 above and behind with violaceous-red ; rest of neck and body anterior to the shoul- 

 ders, lower part of back and tail coverts, black ; beneath white, sprinkled with gray 

 and black anterior to the crissum ; the sides, interscapulars and scapulars finely lined 

 with undulating black and white in nearly equal proportions, imparting a general 

 gray tint; wing coverts bluish-gray, finely sprinkled with whitish; the speculum, 

 consisting of the ends of the secondaries, hoary grayish-blue, lightest externally, 

 and the innermost narrowly edged with black ; basal portion of inner primaries 

 somewhat similar to the speculum ; tail of fourteen feathers ; iris orange-yellow. 



This species, with a strong resemblance to the Canvas-back, is readily distin- 

 guished by the shorter, broader bill, absence of brown on the head, and a greater 

 predominance of black in the waved lines ; this being equal in amount to the white 

 instead of much less. Female with the head, neck and forepart of body brownish ; 

 the region round the base of the bill whitish. 



Length of male, 20.50 inches; wing 9.50; tarsus, 1.60; commissure, 2.30 inches. 



II>t>>. Xorth America; breeding from California and Maine northward. 



This handsome bird, frequently confounded by sportsmen and others 

 with the Canvas-back, is oftentimes to be found about our larger 

 streams during the winter season. The Canvas-back, on the other 

 hand, I have observed in this region only as a casual visitant on mi- 

 grations. 



Some few years ago, while hunting along the Brandywine creek, 

 near West Chester, Pa., I suddenly came upon a party of thirteen 



