ERISMATURA. 



113 



upper parts more uniform, and plumage everywhere of softer 

 texture. Eggs 2.47 X 1-70, pale buff, or pale creamy buff. Hab. 

 North America in general, breeding far northward; south, in winter, 

 to Jamaica, the Carolinas, Ohio Eiver, and Lower California ; acci- 

 dental in Europe 166. O. perspicillata (Linn.). Surf Scoter. 



Genus ERISMATURA Bonaparte. (Page 87, pi. XXVI., fig. 4.) 



Species. 



Common Characters (of American species). — Adult males with upper paints 

 uniform rich reddish chestnut ; head partly or entirely black, the bill fine light 

 blue in life. Females and young, dull grayish brown above, finely mottled (some- 

 times indistinctly barred) with paler; sides of head dull whitish, crossed by a 

 longitudinal dusky bar or band. 



a\. Width of bill near end .90-.95. 



Adult male : Above, including neck, bright reddish chestnut ; top of head 

 black ; entire side of head, below eyes, white ; lower parts, from chest back, 

 whitish (the feathers dark brownish gray immediately beneath the sur- 

 face, and this sometimes completely exposed by wearing away of the 

 light-colored tips), sometimes overlaid by a bright rusty wash or stain. 

 Adult female and young male : Above grayish brown, finely mottled and 

 sometimes indistinctly barred with grayish buff; top of head darker; 

 rest of head grayish white, crossed longitudinally by a stripe of mottled 

 brownish, from corner of mouth to ear-coverts ; neck pale brownish 

 gray, lower parts dull whitish (on surface). Downy young : Above dark 

 smoky brown, darker on head ; a whitish spot on each side of back ; be- 

 low eye, from bill to occiput, a stripe of brownish white, and beneath 

 this a narrower one of dusky brown, confluent with the brown of the 

 nape ; beneath, grayish white, shading into sooty brown on chest. 

 Length about 13.50-16.00, wing 5.75-6.00, culmen about 1.50-1.60. 

 Eggs 2A2 X 1-80, oval or ovoid, white or pale buffy, with finely but dis- 

 tinctly granulated surface. Kab. Tempei-ate North America, south to 

 New Granada and West Indies. 



167. E. rubida (Wils.). Ruddy Duck. 



a^ Width of bill near end only .70-85. 



Adult male : Head and neck (except lower half of latter in front) uniform 

 black ; rest of plumage essentially as in corresponding stage of E. rubida. 

 Adult female : Similar to same sex of E. rubida, but darker and very dis- 

 tinctl}^ barred on the sides and upper parts with light fulvous or buffy. 

 Sab. Southern South America. 



E. ferruginea Etton. Ferruginous Duck.* 



1 Eriamatura ferruginea Eyton, Mon. Anat. 1838j 170. 

 15 



