Plate CCCXXII. Male and Female.
Bill as long as the head, tail much rounded, of fourteen feathers.
Male with the bill light greyish-blue, with a broad band of black at
the end, and a dusky patch anterior to the nostrils; head and neck all
round, for more than half its length, of a rich brownish-red, glossed
with carmine above; a broad belt of brownish-black occupying the lower
part of the neck and the fore part of the body; back and scapulars
pale greyish-white, being minutely traversed by dark brownish-grey
lines; sides and abdomen similar, the undulations gradually fading
away into the greyish-white of the middle of the breast; upper
wing-coverts brownish-grey, the feathers faintly undulated with
whitish toward the end; primary quills brownish-grey, dusky along the
outer web and at the end; secondaries ash-grey, narrowly tipped with
white, four or five of the inner of a purer tint tinged with blue, and
having a narrow brownish-black line along the margin; the innermost
like the scapulars, but more dusky; tail brownish-grey; axillar
feathers and lower wing-coverts white; rump above and below
brownish-black. Female with the head and upper part of the neck dull
reddish-brown, darker above; the rest of the neck all round, and the
upper parts in general, dull greyish-brown, the feathers paler at
their tips; flanks and fore part of the neck dull reddish-brown, the
feathers broadly tipped with pale greyish-brown; wings as in the male,
but of a darker tint, and without undulations; tail as in the male;
lower wing-coverts light grey, those in the middle white; middle of
breast greyish-white, hind part of abdomen light brownish-grey.
_Male_, 20, 33. _Female_, 21, 32-1/2.
Breeds throughout the Fur Countries, from which it migrates southward
in early autumn. Abundant on the Chesapeake, New York Bay, Ohio, and
Mississippi, with their tributaries. None seen westward of the
Mississippi.
Red-headed Duck, Anas Ferina, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p.
110.
Fuligula Ferina, Bonap. Syn. p. 392.
Fuligula Ferina, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 452.
Red-headed Duck or Pochard, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 434.
Red-headed Duck, Fuligula Ferina, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p.
198.