Color Key to North American Birds Part 20

=142. Shoveller= (_Spatula clypeata_). L. 20. Bill much broader at tip than at base. _Ad._ [Male]. Belly chestnut; breast around to back white. _Ad._ [Female]. Wing-coverts blue; back conspicuously margined with buff. _Notes._ "Occasionally a few feeble quacks." (Elliot.)

Range.--Northern hemisphere; in America chiefly in interior; breeds locally from Texas, and regularly from Minnesota and British Columbia north to Alaska and Barren Grounds; winters from British Columbia, Illinois, and Maryland south to northern South America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 144.]

=144. Wood Duck= (_Aix sponsa_). L. 18.5. _Ad._ [Male]. Head crested; green, blue, and purple with white stripes. _Ad._ [Female]. A white streak through and behind eye; crown glossy purplish brown; back olive-brown glossed with greenish. _Notes._ A frightened, plaintive, _oo-eek_.

Range.--North America; breeds locally from Florida to Labrador and British Columbia, winters from British Columbia, southern Illinois, and southern New Jersey, south to southern California and Cuba.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 146.]

=146. Redhead= (_Aythya americana_). L. 19. _Ad._ [Male]. Head and _upper_ neck entirely bright reddish brown. _Ad._ [Female]. Throat white; back grayish brown without fine bars; speculum gray.

_Notes._ "A hoa.r.s.e guttural rolling sound." (Elliot.)

Range.--North America; breeds chiefly in interior from Maine, Minnesota, and California north to Labrador and British Columbia; winters from British Columbia and Maryland south to Lower California and West Indies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 147.]

=147. Canvas-back= (_Aythya vallisneria_). L. 21. _Ad._ [Male]. Head and _whole_ neck _dull_ reddish brown. _Ad._ [Female]. Head and neck _rusty_ grayish brown; back grayish brown, _finely barred with black and white_. _Notes._ "A harsh guttural croak." (Elliot.)

Range.--North America; breeds only in interior from Minnesota and Oregon north to Alaska and the Barren Grounds; winters from British Columbia and Maryland south to southern California, Mexico and West Indies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 148.]

=148. American Scaup Duck= (_Aythya marila_). L. [Male], 18.5; [Female], 17.5. _Ad._ [Male]. Head glossed with greenish; sides without distinct black bars. Ad. [Female]. Feathers about base of bill white; breast and back rusty grayish brown; speculum white. _Notes._ "Similar to the guttural sound made by the Canvas-back, Redhead and other diving Ducks." (Elliot.)

Range.--Northern parts of northern hemisphere; in America, breeds in the interior rarely from Minnesota, and regularly from North Dakota northward; winters from Long Island to northern South America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 149.]

=149. Lesser Scaup Duck= (_Aythya affinis_). L. [Male] 17; [Female], 16.5. _Ad._ [Male]. Head glossed with purplish; sides with distinct black bars. _Ad._ [Female]. Similar to [Female] of No. 148, but smaller.

Range.--North America; breeds only in interior from Iowa rarely, North Dakota commonly, and British Columbia, north to Barren Grounds; winters from British Columbia and Virginia south to Guatemala and West Indies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 150.]

=150. Ring-necked Duck= (_Aythya collaris_). L. 16.5. _Ad._ [Male]. A chestnut neck-ring; chin _white_; back _black_; speculum _gray_. _Ad._ [Female]. Feathers about sides of base of bill and throat white, back and breast _rusty_ grayish brown; speculum gray. Resembles [Female] of No. 146, but is smaller and rustier.

Range.--North America: breeding only in the interior from Minnesota northward; winters from Maryland and British Columbia south to Guatemala and West Indies; rare on Atlantic coast north of Maryland.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 151.]

=151. American Golden-eye= (_Clangula clangula americana_). L. 20.

_Ad._ [Male]. Head _greenish_; white patch at base of bill _circular_.

_Ad._ [Female]. Head and throat brown; breast and back gray, a white throat-ring; belly and speculum white. _Notes._ Rarely a low croak; a high whistling sound produced by wings in flight.

Range.--North America; breeds from Maine, northern Minnesota, and Alberta, north to Arctic Regions; winters from southern Alaska, the Great Lakes and Maine, south to Mexico and Cuba.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 152.]

=152. Barrow Golden-eye= (_Clangula islandica_). L. 20. _Ad._ [Male].

Head _purplish blue_; white patch at base of bill _twice as high as wide_. _Ad._ [Female]. Resembles [Female] of No. 151. _Notes._ A high whistling made by wings in flight, probably also a low croaking as in No. 151.

Range.--Northern North America; breeds from Gulf of St. Lawrence, and mountains of Colorado north to southern Greenland; winters south to Virginia, Illinois, and California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 153.]

=153. Buffle-head= (_Charitonetta albeola_). L. 14.7. _Ad._ [Male].

Head blue, purple, and green; a white band from eye to eye across nape. _Ad._ [Female]. A whitish patch on either side of head; throat and upper parts grayish brown; belly and speculum white. _Notes._ A single guttural note like a small edition of the Canvas-back's roll.

(Elliot.)

Range.--North America; breeds from Maine, Iowa, and British Columbia northward; winters from southern limit of breeding range to West Indies and Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 167.]

=167. Ruddy Duck= (_Erismatura jamaicensis_). L. 15. Tail-feathers narrow and stiff; bill short (1.5) and broad. _Ad._ [Male]. Cheeks white, cap black, back reddish brown. _Ad._ [Female]. A whitish streak through dusky cheeks; back grayish brown with fine buffy bars; belly silvery whitish. _Yng._ [Male]. Similar, but cheeks all white or whitish.

Range.--Western hemisphere from northern South America to Hudson Bay; breeds locally throughout its range, but chiefly northward; winters from New Jersey, southern Illinois and California southward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 168.]

=168. Masked Duck= (_Nomonyx dominicus_). L. 14. Tail-feathers long, (4.5) narrow, stiff and pointed. _Ad._ [Male]. Front of head black; behind it reddish brown all around; white in wing. _Ad._ [Female]. A brownish streak through eye: buffy streaks above and below it; back blackish regularly _barred_ with buff; below washed with rusty.

Range--Tropical America north to Lower Rio Grande; accidental in Wisconsin, Lake Champlain, and Ma.s.sachusetts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 154. Winter]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 154. Summer]

=154. Old-squaw= (_Harelda hyemalis_). L. [Male], 21; [Female], 16; T. [Male], 8; [Female], 2.5. No colored speculum. _Ad._ [Male].

Central tail-feathers much lengthened; in winter, crown, nape, throat, and neck all around white. In summer, black, with rusty markings on back. _Ad._ [Female]. winter. Cheeks, neck all around, and underparts white; breast and sides of neck dusky. In summer, crown, cheeks and nape blackish, throat and breast dusky; a whitish patch back of eye.

_Notes._ In spring, a rich, musical _a-leedle-a_, frequently repeated in deep, reed-like tones. (Nelson.) Also "_o-onc-o-onc-ough-egh-ough-egh_."

(Mackay.)

Range.--Northern hemisphere; breeds from northern Labrador and Aleutian Islands north to Arctic Ocean; winters south to Virginia, Upper Mississippi Valley, and California, "rarely to Florida and Texas."

[Ill.u.s.tration: 155.]

=155. Harlequin Duck= (_Histrionicus histrionicus_). L. 17. _Ad._ [Male]. Back and breast slaty blue; head darker. _Ad._ [Female]. Front half of cheeks and spot over ears whitish, above blackish brown; below dusky and whitish. _Notes._ "A confusion of low gabbling and chattering notes." (Nelson.)

Range.--"Northern North America, breeding from Newfoundland, the northern Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevadas (lat.i.tude 38), northward; south in winter to the Middle States and California; eastern Asia, Iceland." (A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 156.]

=156. Labrador Duck= (_Camptolaimus labradorius_). L. 20. _Ad._ [Male]. Primaries blackish; rest of wing white. _Ad._ [Female]. Ashy gray: speculum white. _Yng._ [Male]. Like [Female] but throat and ends of greater wing-coverts white.

Range.--Formerly North Atlantic coast; bred from Labrador northward; wintered south to New Jersey; believed to be extinct; last records, Grand Menan, New Brunswick, 1871; Long Island, 1875.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 157.]