108 



MICllICiAN BIRD LIFE. 



This duck is pro])ably not as common in our waters as the preceding, but 

 owing to its conspicuous marl-cings it is more generally recognized and hence 

 more often recorded. Like the 

 others it is a bird of late fall, 

 winter and early spring, but 

 not so likely to remain through 

 the winter as the White-winged 

 Scoter. Mr. N. A. Eddy calls 

 it less common in fall migration 

 on Saginaw Bay. Major Boies 

 secured one which was killed 

 on the St. Mary's River near 

 Neebish Island about the 

 middle of October; one was 

 killed at St. Clair Flats October 

 13, 1904, by W. H. Marquette, 

 and mounted in Detroit 

 (Swales); J. Claire Wood re- 

 ports a female from Detroit 

 River November 10, 1903; E. 

 W. Nelson says it is common on Lake Michigan and adjacent waters (Bull. 

 Nutt. Orn. Club, I, 41). Kumlien & Hollister say "Not rare on Lake 

 IMichigan in winter, and usually found on all the larger inland lakes in late 

 fall. Seldom taken in the spring, most of the specimens being young or 

 immature birds" (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 26). 



Like the other scoters this species feeds mainly on shellfish and spends 

 much of its time in diving for this food. Its flesh is rank and fishy in 

 consequence. It nests well to the northward, and we have no reason to 

 suppose that it ever breeds within our limits. The nest and eggs are similar 

 to those of the other scoters, and the eggs, which are pale buff or pale creamy 

 buff, average 2.47, by 1.70 inches. 



From Hoffman's Guide to the Birds of New England 

 and Eastern New York. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Feathers of the head extending much farther forward than those of the lores; sides of 

 the upper mandible swollen at the base and naked. Adult male entirely black except 

 for a squarish white patch on the crown between the eyes and a much larger triangular 

 white patch on the nape; wings without any white; bill in life conspicuously colored with 

 black, red, and white; iris white. Adult female mainly dusky gray or grayish-brown, 

 somewhat paler on the belly, and usually with an indistinct whitish patch near the corner 

 of the mouth; the bill not much swollen at the base and uniformly dark colored. Young 

 in first winter similar to adult female, but the sides of the head with two indistinct white 

 patches, one near the base of the bill, the other below and behind the eye. 



Length of male 20 to 22 inches; wing 9.25 to 9.75; culmen 1.30_to l.GO. Length of 

 female 18 to 19 inches. 



57. Ruddy Duck. Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmel.). (167) 



Synonyms: Spine-tail Duck, Fool Duck, Deaf Duck, Shot-pouch, Bull-neck, Rook, 

 Roody, Dipper, etc. — Anas jamaicensis, Gm., 1789.— Anas rubida, Wils. — Fuligula rubida, 

 Sw. & Rich., 1831, Aud., 1838. — Erismatura rubida, Bp., 1838, and most later authors. 



Figure 29. 



The small size, short, thick neck and extremely short upper tail-coverts, 

 leaving the tail-feathers exposed almost to their roots, are points which 



