Color—Male—Head and neck, nearly black; back, light gray; bill, black, and forming nearly a straight line from the tip to the crown of the head; belly and flanks, nearly white.
Female—Head and neck, cinnamon brown, paler on the throat; back, dark gray.
Nest and Eggs—The nest of the canvasback is generally found on some little knoll in the marsh, and is lined with dead grass and feathers, and often with considerable down. The eggs, which are about ten in number, are of a dark creamy white.
Measurements—Total length, from 18 to 22 inches; the more northern birds within the territory here covered will always be found considerably larger than those of the more southern latitudes. Wing, 8 to 9 1/2 inches, and bill about 2 1/2 inches.
| RED-HEAD (Aythya americana) |
THE RED-HEAD
(Aythya americana)
The red-head is quite a common duck in the southern sections of the Coast hunting grounds. Though purely a bay or salt-water duck, that is, belonging to the subfamily Fuligulinæ, it is not found to any great extent on the salt-water marshes, preferring the higher lakes, ponds and reservoirs of the mountain valleys and foothills. I found them one season in great numbers on the San Rafael marshes, high up in the mountains of Lower California, and all the shooting two friends and myself wished to do had no effect in driving them away, although the ponds of the marsh were few and small.