BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
41 
pecker. The eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age of 
the bird, are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty portion of 
down, which I believe is mostly plucked from the breast of the female. 
They are perfectly smooth, nearly elliptical, of a light color, between 
buff and pale-green, two inches in length by one and a half in diameter. 
“ No sooner has the female completed her set of eggs than she is aban- 
doned by her mate, who now joins others, which form themselves into 
considerable flocks, and thus remain apart till the young are able to fly, 
when old and young of both sexes come together, and so remain until 
the commencement of the next breeding season. * * * * 
If the nest is placed immediately over the water the young, the mo- 
ment they are hatched, scramble to the mouth of the hole, launch into 
the air with their little wings and feet spread out, and drop into their 
favorite element ; but whenever their birth-place is some distance from 
it, the mother carries them to it, one by one, in her bill, holding them 
so as not to injure their yet tender frame. On several occasions, how- 
ever, when the hole was thirty, forty, or more yards from a bayou or 
other piece of water, I observed that the mother suffered the young to 
fall on the grasses and dried leaves beneath the tree, and afterwards led 
them directly to the nearest edge of the next pool or creek.” — Audubon. 
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. 
The food materials of eight Wood Ducks, taken in the fall and early 
winter months, in or near Pennsylvania, are given in the following table : 
No. 
Date. 
Local, IT Y. 
Food Materials. 
1 
September — , 1878, . . . 
Chester county. Pa. 
Acorns. 
2 
September—, 1878, . . . 
Chester county. Pa 
Acorns. 
S 
September — , 1878, . . . 
Chester county. Pa. 
Acorns and small seeds. 
4 
September — , 1878, . . . 
Chester county. Pa 
Small seeds. 
5 
October 4, 1880, . . . 
Philadelphia Market, Pa. , 
Acorns. 
6 
October 4, 1880, . . . 
Philadelphia Market, Pa. , 
Small seeds and other vegetable matter. 
7 
November 20, 1883, . . . 
Philadelphia Market, Pa. . 
Small seeds. 
8 
November 3, 1882, . . . 
Philadelphia Market, Pa. , 
Small seeds. 
Genus AYTHYA Boie. 
Aythya americana (Eyt.). 
Red-head. 
Description {Plate 63). 
Bill broad and flattened, little shorter than head. 
Adult Male . — Bill dull blue, the end black ; tarsi grayish-blue; iris reddish-yellow; 
head and half or more of neck all round rich glossy-reddish chestnut ; rest of neck, 
fore part of body above and below, lower part of back, upper and low^er tail coverts 
blackish ; back, scapulars and sides finely waved with black and white lines ; belly 
white, darker toward the vent ; wing coverts ashy-gray with minute white spots ; 
speculum light bluish-gray, edged internally with black. 
