134 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
the black of his foreparts and the gray of his wing. The wing pattern 
shows well in flight in both sexes. The male in spring, Mr. Eaton says, 
has a peculiar note— qua-quaa —while the female has a quack “of dis¬ 
tinctive tone and quality.” 
The Redhead is one of our most notable ducks, and the abolition 
of shooting on Lake Burford assures protection on one of its few breeding 
grounds in the Rocky Mountain region. 
While the Redheads are naturally deep-water species, those that we 
found on Lake Burford in the fall of 1904 were strikingly tame, staying 
with the Coots and Ruddy Ducks on a small tide and scirpus bordered 
lake. When the lake was visited by Mr. Ligon in July, he found some 
nests still containing eggs, and others with eggs lying outside near them. 
Skunks or other animals were evidently creating havoc among the ducks* 
nests and had undoubtedly eaten many hundreds of eggs. So persistent 
were their ravages that the ducks had largely stopped nesting above 
high water mark on the shores where there would naturally be the most 
favorable nesting sites, and were nesting out in the rushes where many 
eggs were lost owing to the changes in the level of the water. 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., Auk, XIX, 7-9, 1902; U. S. Nat. Mus. 
Bull. 126, 175-185, 1923— Rockwell, R. B., Condor, XI, 112, 113, 1909; XIII, 
189-193, 1911 (nest).— Wetmore, Alexander, Auk, XXXVII, 243-244, 1920. 
CANVASBACK: Nyr6ca valisneria (Wilson) 
Description. — Length: About 20-23.5 inches, wing 8.7-9.2, bill 2.1-2.5, greatest 
depth of bill .7-.8. Weight: l 7 /$ to 2^ lbs. (Leopold). Bill long, high at base, and 
sloping down from low flat forehead. Adult 
male in breeding plumage: Head and neck 
mainly rufous-brown, crown and chin gener¬ 
ally blackish; breast and foreparts of body 
black; rest of body and wings mainly white 
or light gray with very fine wavy cross lines 
of dusky, speculum bluish gray edged with 
white behind; rump, upper and lower tail 
coverts blackish; axillars white; wing linings 
pale gray; iris red, bill blackish,feet grayish 
blue. Adult male in post-nuptial eclipse 
(worn for only a short time): Head and 
neck mottled with brown, chest mixed with 
brown and gray, belly more orless mottled. 
Adult-female and young injuvenal plumage: 
Color pattern of male but foreparts dull 
reddish brown, and back grayish brown, 
with wavy white barring; iris brown, bill, 
legs and feet similar to male. 
Range. —Breeds in western North America from central Alaska (infrequently), 
northern Mackenzie, Saskatchewan, western Manitoba, and Minnesota south to 
central-western Nebraska, northern New Mexico, northern Utah, western Nevada, 
From Handbook of Western Birds 
Fig. 16. Canvasback 
