Nest and Eggs—The nests are usually built on little hillocks in the marshes, and contain from six to eight dirty white eggs.
Measurements—The ruddy is a small duck with a very rounded body. Total length, about 15 inches; wing, 6, and bill, 1 1/2 inches, strongly depressed in the center.
| AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE (Glaucionetta clangula americana) |
THE AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE
(Glaucionetta clangula americana)
The American golden-eye is a visitor from the far north to the northern portions of the territory covered by this work. An occasional straggler is killed as far south as San Francisco, but they are a cold country bird. They are more common in the interior of Washington and Oregon than along the coast.
Color—Male—Head and upper half of neck, dark green with a metallic sheen; a nearly round patch of white between the eye and the base of the bill; lower part of neck, most of the back and the under parts, white; upper part of the back, rump and tail, black; wings, mostly white.
Female—Head and upper neck, brown; gray spot at the base of the bill; breast and under parts, gray; back and most of the wings, brownish black.
Nest and Eggs—The nest is usually built in a hollow tree or stump and contains about ten eggs of a bluish white color.