9-16 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS — LAMELLIBOSTBES — AN SERES. 



One North American species, of 7 which compose the ahnost cosmopolitan genus. It is quite 

 different from the foregoing Scoters and Eiders, in f:ict from all ordinary Sea Ducks; the pe- 

 culiarities of the tail are sliared by Nomonyx, lluilassornis, and Biziura, and these four genera 

 constitute a group sometimes recognized as the subfamily ErismaturincB (p. 921). 

 E. jamaicen'sis. (Lat. of or pertaining to Jamaica, whence the bird was originally described 

 by Latham as the Jamaica Shoveller, 1785; Anas jamaicensis Gm. 1788; Anas ruhida WiLS. 

 1814. E. ruhida of most authors, as of all former editiims of the Key. Fig. 665.) Ruddy 

 Duck: called also by more fanciful and absurd names than any other, the Scoters not ex- 

 cepted. Tlie following is Trumbull's list, for the most part : Dumpling Duck. Daub Duck. 

 Deaf Duck. Fool Duck. Sleepy Duck. Butter Duck. Butter-ball. Butter- 

 bowl. Batter-scoot. Blather-scoot. Bladder-scoot or Blatherskite. Salt- 

 water Teal. Brown Diving Teal. Widgeon Coot. Creek Coot. Sleepy Coot. 

 Booby Coot. Bumble-bee Coot. Quill-tailed Coot. Heavy-tailed Duck. Quill- 

 tail. Stiff-tail. Pin-tail. Bristle-tail. Stick-tail. Spine-tail. Dip-tail 

 Diver. Ruddy Diver. Dun Diver. Dun-bird. Mud-dipper, Dopper, or Dapper. 

 Spoon-billed Butter-ball. Spoonbill. Broad-billed Dipper. Broad-bill. 

 Hard-headed Broad-bill. Blue-bill. Sleepy Brother. Sleepy-head. Tough- 

 head. Hickory-head. Steel-head. Bull-neck. Leather-back. Paddy-whack. 

 Stub-and-twist. Lightwood-knot. Shot-pouch. Water-partridge. Dinkey. 

 Dickey. Paddy. Noddy. Booby. Rook. ^J in perfect plumage : Neck all around and 

 upper parts and sides of body rich brownish -red, or bright glossy chestnut. Lov.'er parts silky 

 silvery white "watered" with dusky, yielding gray undulations; this time due to gray bases 

 of the feathers, showing more or less, and often overlaid with a rusty tinge. Chin and sides of 

 head dead white ; crown and nape glossy blaclc. Wing-coverts, quills, and tail blackish-brown ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries gray, with some white edgings ; crissal feathers white to the 

 roots. Bill and edges of eyelids grayish-blue ; iris reddish-brown ; feet bluish-gray, with dusky 

 webs. Not often seen in this faultless dress in tlie U. S. As generally observed, and 9 '• 

 Brown above, finely dotted and waved with dusky; below paler and duller, more grayish, with 

 dark undulations, and often a tawny wash, as also occurs on the white of head; crown and 

 nape dark brown ; crissum white ; bill dusky. In this state it h)oks obscure and sordid, but 

 is unmistakable ; 9 ™<iy ^6 known from y(jung by a dusky streak from bill backward in the 

 whitish of side of head. Length 15.00-17.00; extent 20.00-24.00; wing 5.50-6.00; tail 3.50 ; 

 tarsus 1.25; middle toe and chiw 2.60; bill 1.50 along culmen, 0.90-0.95 wide. A curious and 

 interesting Duck, abundant in North America at large, wintering in the U. S. and beyond to 

 the West Indies and South America ; breeding over much of its range, as in parts of western 

 U. S. and from N. border of the U. S. northward, and in West Indies and Guatemala. It is 

 an expert diver, and swims well under water, when its rudder comes into use, like a Cormo- 

 rant's ; it is held cocked up when not in use, so that this Duck does not slope down behind as 

 most do on the water. When alarmed, it sometimes sinks quietly backward into the water, 

 like a Grebe; but some other Sea Ducks, as the Harlequin, will do the same. The tail well 

 illustrates a method in which early down-feathers are supplanted by true quills. Up to the 

 time the ''flappers" are 8 or 10 inches long, the true tail-feather (teleoptile) bears at its end 

 the simple stem of the down-feather (neossoptile), terminating in a bushy tuft of loose barbs; 

 the whole affair then breaks off and falls. (See Am. Nat. xii, 1878, p. 123, fig.) Ducklings 

 in down are smoky-brown above and on the fore breast, grayish-white on the belly, with a 

 whitish spot on each side of the back, and a light and a dark stripe on each side of the head. 

 Nest bulky, usually among reeds, etc., in a slough ; eggs 9-14, very large for the bird, about 

 2.40 X 1-80, less elliptical than usual, finely granular, buffy white. (£". ruhida, A. 0. U. 

 Lists, 1886-95, No. 167. E. jamaicensis Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii, 1896, p. 445; 

 A. 0. U. Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 125.) 



