RUDDY DUCK. lOg 



Through the polite attention of Mr. Charles Bonaparte, the editor was 

 enabled to examine a female specimen of the former ; and as he per- 

 ceived some dijOferences, he will here note them. The bill of the Ural 

 Duck, from the angle of the mouth, is two inches long ; that of our 

 Duck is one inch and three-quarters, it is also less gibbous at the 

 base than in the former, and it is less depressed above ; the tail feathers 

 of the Ural Duck are guttered their whole length : those of the Ruddj 

 Duck are slightly canaliculated at their tips ; the lateral membrane of 

 the inner toe of the latter is not half the bre^tdth of that of the former. 

 In other respects the females of the two species much resemble each 

 other. In order to draw a just parallel, it would be necessary to ex- 

 amine a male specimen of the European bird, which our cabinets do not 

 possess. 



The female is fifteen inches in length ; bill to the angle of the mouth 

 one inch and three-quarters long, its lower half very broad, of a deep 

 dusky olive, the nail resembling a narrow clasp of iron ; nostrils oval, 

 with a curved furrow below them ; eyes small and dark ; the upper 

 part of the head, from the bill to the hind-head, variegated with shining 

 bronze and blackish brown, the latter crossing the head in lines ; cheeks 

 white, mixed with dusky, and some touches of bronze ; lores drab and 

 dusky, mixed with a small portion of white ; neck short and thick, its 

 lower half above, extending between the shoulders, drab, mixed with 

 dusky ; throat, and whole lower parts, dusky ash, the plumage tipped 

 with dull white, having a silver gray appearance ; the upper parts are 

 dusky, marked or pencilled with pale ferruginous, and dull white ; 

 breast slightly tinged with reddish brown ; the wings are small, greatly 

 concave, and, when closed, are short of the extremities of the tail- 

 coverts about three-quarters of an inch — they are dusky, their coverts 

 finely dotted or powdered with white ; tail dusky, marked at its ex- 

 tremity with a few very fine dots of reddish white, it extends beyond its 

 upper coverts two inches and a half; under tail-coverts white; legs and 

 feet dusky slate ; weight sixteen ounces and a half. The gizzard of the 

 above contained sand and some small seeds. Her eggs were numerous 

 and tolerably large ; hence, as she was shot in the month of October, it 

 was conjectured that she was a bird of the preceding year. 



The young male, shot in April last, measured fifteen inches in length ; 

 its irides were dark brown ; bill elevated at the base, slightly gibbous, 

 and blue ash, from the nostrils to the tip mixed with dusky, lower man- 

 dible yellowish flesh color, marbled with dusky ; crown brown black ; 

 throat and cheeks, as far as the upper angle of the bill, white, stained 

 with bright yellow ochre ; auriculars almost pure white ; the black from 

 the crown surrounded the eyes, and passed round the white of the auri- 

 culars ; hind-head black, mixed with ferruginous ; breast and shouldei's 

 bright ferruginous ; belly ash and silver white ; back and scapulars 



