274 
ORDERS OF BIRDS— DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
whatever inferior to its more famous relative. 
When shot in the same locality, I think there is 
no one who could distinguish the two species 
by a difference in the flavor of their flesh. 
In the color of their plumage, the Redhead 
and canvas-back look so much alike that the 
casual observer might easily mistake one spe- 
cies for the other. Both have heads and necks 
of solid rusty brown, but the head-color of the 
Redhead is the more intense and conspicuous. 
The head of the Redhead has a high and 
well-rounded forehead and crown, while that 
of the canvas-back is wedge-shaped, the fore- 
head forming a straight line with the top of 
the bill. The Redhead has a short bill, with a 
blue band across it ; the other species has a long 
bill, with no band. 
THE REDHEAD DUCK. 
The Redhead (like the canvas-back) feeds 
chiefly upon aquatic plants, its favorite food 
being the vallisneria, a kind of trailing water- 
weed which grows in many of the inlets along 
the Atlantic coast. 
Through countless generations of diving after 
food-plants, the Redhead has become a deep 
diver. It is accustomed to seeking its food in 
mid-stream of deep rivers, and in the open water 
of lakes and sounds, where many other ducks 
would be quite unable to reach the bottom. 
Reliable lake fishermen at Lakeside, Orleans 
County, New York, have informed me that they 
have taken drowned Redhead Ducks from 
nets that had been set on the bottom of Lake 
Ontario, at a depth of ninety feet, where the 
ducks could not possibly have become entangled 
save in going to the bottom for food. It also 
appeared that those Ducks sought their food 
and became entangled only at night. It takes 
a bold and energetic bird to feed successfully 
at night in ninety feet of water! 
Naturally this fine bird has ever been a 
prime favorite with sportsmen and “market- 
shooters,” and during the past fifteen years 
its numbers have diminished to about one- 
fiftieth of what they were prior to 1885. It is 
as easily deceived by decoys as green hunters 
are; and in preparing to alight the Redhead 
flock has a fatal habit of coming together in a 
manner called “bunching,” which is as deadly 
to the birds as “close formation” is to soldiers 
in a modern battle. 
Much more might be noted regarding this in- 
teresting bird, which must be left to the special 
works on birds. For many reasons it is very de- 
sirable that the Redhead should be semi-domesti- 
cated, and by protection and breeding in cap- 
tivity saved from the final blotting out which 
otherwise will be its fate. While it does not 
breed in captivity as bravely as the mallard, it 
can be taught to do so, and the prices at which 
living birds can be procured ($5 each) is so 
very moderate that experiments with it are not 
costly. 
The distribution of this bird is given as 
“North America, breeding from California, 
southern Michigan, and Maine northward;” 
but in North America there are to-day more 
lands and waters without this duck than with 
it. In addition to its best and most appro- 
priate name it is also ' called Raft- Duck, and 
American Pochard. 
The Canvas- Back Duck 1 had the misfortune, 
early in its history, to attract the evil eye of the 
deadly epicure, whose look of approval is a 
blighting curse to every living creature upon 
which it is bestowed. Because of this, the 
unfortunate Canvas-Back is now little more than 
a bird of history. It is of no present interest, 
outside of museums and the zoological parks 
and gardens which have been so fortunate as to 
secure a very few specimens. Unfortunately, 
it has been impossible for even the most ener- 
getic duck-fanciers to secure a sufficient number 
1 Ay-thy'a val-lis-ne'ri-a. Average length, 22 
inches. 
