RUDDY DUCK 289 



scope, especially if the observer conceal himself or approach 

 the lookout post unobserved. One gradually becomes fa- 

 miliar with certain marks about the head and on the wings, 

 the size and actions of certain species, and after long prac- 

 tice can distinguish them at long range and with consider- 

 able ease. The beginner, however, should be very careful, and 

 identify with great hesitation. A morning in a '' blind," 

 or a cruise in a sailboat with a "gunner" or a more ad- 

 vanced student, will clear up many difficulties. Ducks, like 

 other sea-birds, have a habit of standing up now and then 

 in the water and flapping their wings ; at such times they 

 show any white patches there may be in the wings. When 

 about to alight they generally scale for some distance with 

 wings set and body almost perpendicular, and just before 

 they drop into the water a foot dangles down on each side. 

 At this time one can note the color of the feet and legs, 

 which differs with the different species. " Scoters, Old 

 Squaws, and Eiders ordinarily fly low over the water, . . . 

 while the Mergansers, Scaups, Whistlers, and most of the 

 others, are apt to fly high " (Job, " Among the Water-Fowl," 

 p. 221.) 



Note. — The term speculum, which occurs frequently in the descrip- 

 tions of the plumages of ducks, is applied to a small patch of feathers 

 in the wing-, which in many species differs in color from the rest of the 

 wing, and often has a heautiful metallic lustre. Many ducks have also 

 larger or smaller areas of white in the wing which serve as better 

 field-marks than the speculum, which is only useful in case the duck 

 is seen at close range. 



Ruddy Duck. Erisviatura jamaicensis 



15.00 



Ad. $ in breeding plumage. — Crown and nape black ; sides 

 of head and chin white ; upper parts, throat, and fore neck bright 

 reddish brown ; upper part of breast tinged with reddish-brown ; 

 rest of under parts silvery white ; tail brownish-black, the sepa- 

 rate feathers stiff and pointed ; no white on wing. Ad. 9 ^^^ 



