. Our birds in their haunts [microform] : a popular treatise on the birds of eastern North America. Birds; Oiseaux. 468 THE RED-HEADED DUCK. males are quite noisy, loudly uttering their deep-toned me-oWy which is the precise imitation of the voice of a large cat. The female, especially, if rising from her nest or out of the water, has a loud, clear squak^ on a higher tone than that of the Mallard or Dusky Duck, and so peculiar as to be readily identified by the ear, even if the bird is not in sight. The gray aspect of the wings in flight is also very characteristic of this species. The nest is
. Our birds in their haunts [microform] : a popular treatise on the birds of eastern North America. Birds; Oiseaux. 468 THE RED-HEADED DUCK. males are quite noisy, loudly uttering their deep-toned me-oWy which is the precise imitation of the voice of a large cat. The female, especially, if rising from her nest or out of the water, has a loud, clear squak^ on a higher tone than that of the Mallard or Dusky Duck, and so peculiar as to be readily identified by the ear, even if the bird is not in sight. The gray aspect of the wings in flight is also very characteristic of this species. The nest is generally built in the thick sedges over the water, and consists of the leaves of the cat-tail and of various kinds of marsh-grass, a slight lining of down being added as incubation pro- ceeds. The eggs, generally about 9 or 10, but sometimes as many as 15, some X , are nearly oval or' oblong-oval,, having a very smooth, firm shell, and being of a rich light-brown tinge, sometimes slightly clouded; scarcely if ever tinged with blue or green. When moist- ened a little and rubbed with a dry cloth, they are sus- ceptible of a high polish. The young, in the down, has the crown of the head and the upper parts, generally, of a clear, olivaceous green, the cheeks and under parts, bright yellow. The eggs are fresh, or nearly so, the first week in June. A stately and beautiful bird indeed is the male, as, with head well up, he rides upon the water. A little over 20 inches in length, the bill, which is about as long as the head and rather broad, is blue, shading into dusky or black at the tip; the male has the head and more than half of the neck brownish-red, with a violaceous gloss above and behind; the lower part of the neck, the breast, upper and lower parts of the back, black; beneath, white sprinkled with gray or dusky; sides, scapulars and space between, white and black in fine wavy lines of equal width, giving a gray effect in the distance; wing-coverts gray, specked wit
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1884
