Color Key to North American Birds Part 18

=123a. Violet-green Cormorant= (_P. p. robustus_). Similar to No. 123, but larger; bill stouter, W. 10.8.

Range.--"Coast of Alaska, from Norton Sound south to Was.h.i.+ngton."

(A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 123b.]

=123b. Baird Cormorant= (_P. p. resplendens_). Similar to No. 123, but smaller; bill slenderer; W. 9.5. _Notes._ A croaking, guttural note.

Range.--Pacific coast from Was.h.i.+ngton south to Mazatlan, Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 124. Breeding Plumage]

=124. Red-faced Cormorant= (_Phalacrocorax urile_). L. 34. _Forehead_ as well as lores bare. _Ads._ Above green and purple; head and neck blue black; belly green. _Breeding plumage._ With forehead and nape crests and white patches on flanks. _Notes._ "A low, droning croak."

(Nelson.)

Range.--"Pribilof, Aleutian, and Kuril Islands, and coast of Kamchatka. South in winter to northern j.a.pan." (A.O.U.)

Anhinga, Pelicans, and Man-o'-War bird

[Ill.u.s.tration: 118.]

=118. Anhinga; Snakebird; Water Turkey= (_Anhinga anhinga_). L. 36.

_Ad._ [Male]. Black; grayish head and neck plumes which, in winter, are absent. _Ad._ [Female]. Resembles male but whole head, neck, and breast brownish. _Yng._ Similar to [Female] but black parts duller.

_Notes._ A rasping, clattering croak, uttered when fighting or in coming to the nest.

Range.--Tropical and subtropical America; breeds north to southern Illinois and South Carolina; winters from Gulf States southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 125.]

=125. American White Pelican= (_Peleca.n.u.s erythrorhynchos_). L. 60.

_Ads._ White; primaries black; bill in breeding season with a k.n.o.b.

_Yng._ With crown brownish.

Range:--North America; breeds in interior from eastern California, Utah, Yellowstone Park, Minnesota (?) northward to Lat. 61; winters from Gulf States and southern California, south to Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 126.]

=126. Brown Pelican= (_Peleca.n.u.s occidentalis_). L. 50; W. 19.5.

_Ads._ Pouch greenish; head white, rarely yellowish; neck brown. In fall, no brown on neck. _Yng._ Brownish gray, white below. _Notes._ Adults as a rule silent; young before flying, very noisy.

Range:--Atlantic and Gulf coast of tropical and subtropical America; breeds from northern South America to South Carolina; has strayed to Illinois and Nova Scotia; winters from Gulf States southward.

=127. California Brown Pelican= (_Peleca.n.u.s californicus_). Similar to No. 126, but larger. L. 54; W. 21; pouch in breeding season, red.

Range.--Pacific coast from Galapagos north to British Columbia; breeds north only to Los Coronados Islands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 128.]

=128. Man-o'-War Bird; Frigate Bird= (_Fregata aquila_). L. 40. _Ad._ [Male]. Black, glossy above; pouch "scarlet or orange." _Ad._ [Female]. Browner; breast and belly white. _Yng._ Similar to [Female], but head and neck white. _Notes._ Usually silent; rarely a croaking note.

Range:--Tropical and subtropical coasts; in America north to Florida, Texas, and southern California; casually to Kansas, Ohio and Nova Scotia; winters from southern Florida and Lower California southward.

Order V. DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS.

ANSERES.

Family 1. DUCKS, GEESE, and SWANS. Anatidae. 49 species, 6 subspecies.

The Anatidae of North America are placed in five well-marked subfamilies, the Mergansers (_Merginae_), River Ducks (_Anatinae_), Sea Ducks (_Fuligulinae_), Geese (_Anserinae_), and Swans (_Cygninae_).

The Mergansers, Saw-bills, or Sh.e.l.ldrakes are fish-eating Ducks and their rounded bills, set with tooth-like projections along the sides, are of evident use to them in holding their prey.

The River Ducks include such well-known species as the Mallard, Black Duck, and Widgeon. They differ from the Bay or Sea Ducks in not having a well-developed web or flap on the hind-toe. As a rule they feed in shallow water by tipping, standing on their heads, as it were, while reaching the bottom for food.

The Bay or Sea Ducks have the hind-toe webbed. They feed, as a rule, in deeper water than the River Ducks, sometimes descending to the bottom in water over one hundred feet deep. During the winter they gather in flocks often of several thousand individuals, and frequent the larger bodies of water.

With both the River and Bay Ducks the sides of the broad, flat bill are set with gutters which serve as strainers, retaining the mollusks, seeds and roots of aquatic plants on which these Ducks feed, while the mud or water taken in with the food is forced out the sides of the bill as it closes.

Geese are more terrestrial than Ducks and often visit the land to nip the gra.s.s. This is particularly true in the west where large flocks of, Geese, especially Snow Geese, may be seen feeding on the prairies.

On the water they feed over shallows by tipping and probing the bottoms.

Swans also feed from the surface of the water either by simply immersing the head and neck or by half submerging the body, when, with the tail pointed to the zenith, the length of their reach is greatly increased.

In spite of their comparatively short wings the large muscles attached to them give to the Anatidae great power of flight. Not only do they make extended journeys, when migrating, without a rest, but they attain a speed which is surpa.s.sed by but few birds. Some of the smaller species, when alarmed, doubtless flying at the rate of one hundred miles an hour.

In common with other diving water birds the Ducks, when molting, lose most of their wing feathers all at once, and for a time are therefore unable to fly. During this comparatively helpless period the brightly colored males a.s.sume in part the plumage of the females and are thereby rendered less conspicuous. With the return of the power of flight, however, they regain their distinctive, male plumage, which is usually brighter than that of the female. With our Geese and Swans there is no s.e.xual difference in color.

Most of our Ducks and Geese breed in the north, some within the Arctic Circle, and winter from the southern limit of frozen water southward.

The American Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Wood Duck, Buffle-head, Golden-Eyes, Tree Ducks, and possibly Harlequin Duck nest in hollow trees, at times some distance from the water. The young of the American Golden-eye and of the Wood Duck have been seen to reach the water by jumping from the nest-hole and fluttering down in response to the calls of the parent below. It is said that they are also brought down in the bill of the old bird, but this statement apparently lacks confirmation.

The remaining species of our Ducks, Geese, and Swans, nest as a rule, on the ground generally near water. From five to fifteen and, in the case of the Fulvous Tree Duck, possibly as many as thirty eggs are laid. In color they vary from white to buffy and pale olive and are always uniformly colored. Incubation is performed by the female alone.

The males at this period among most Ducks deserting their mate to undergo the partial molt before mentioned. While incubating the females surround their nest with soft down plucked from their bodies and when leaving the nest to feed, this down is drawn over the eggs with the double object, doubtless, of concealing them and of keeping them warm.

With Eider Ducks this down const.i.tutes the larger part of, if not the entire nest. Saunders states that in Iceland the down in each nest weighs about one-sixth of a pound. This is gathered by the natives, who, however, are careful to afford the sitting bird an opportunity to raise her brood without further molestation.

The collection of Eider down thus furnishes an admirable ill.u.s.tration of proper economic relations between man and birds. The down is an important source of income to the natives of the comparatively barren, northern countries in which the Eiders nest. So long as man can remember it has been gathered annually. Still the Ducks continue to return in numbers year after year to the same region, perhaps the exact spot in which they nested the year before.

Less intelligent methods would perhaps rob the bird of its second, as well as of its first nest and, unable to reproduce its kind, the species would become extinct within a comparatively short period.

The evils which would follow such a course are, however, thoroughly understood. The Ducks, in the first place, are encouraged in every way. It is said that should one walk into a peasant's cabin and preempt his cot as a nesting-site, the peasant would gladly give up his bed to so valuable a visitor.