THE BIRD BOOK 



167. Ruddy Duck. Erismatura jamaicensis. 



Range. — Whole of North America, breeding 

 chiefly north of the United States border except 

 locally on the Pacific coast. Winters along the 

 Gulf and through Mexico and Central America. 



This peculiar species may always be recognized 

 by the brownish or chestnut upper parts, blackish 

 crown, white cheeks and silvery white underparts. 

 The bill is very stout and broad at the end, and 

 the tail feathers are stiff and pointed like those 



Ruddy Duck 



Masked Duck 



Grayish white 



of a Cormorant. They build their nests in low 

 marshy places, either placing them on the 

 ground near the water or in the rushes over it. 

 Their nests are made of rushes and grasses, 

 sometimes lined and sometimes not, with down 

 from the parents breast. The eggs number from 

 six to twelve and are grayish in color. Size 2.40 

 x 1.75. Data. — Northern Assiniboia, Canada, June 

 6, 1901. Eight eggs. Nest made of aquatic 

 grasses, lined with down. Built in a tuft of rushes 

 in a marsh. Collector, Walter Raine. 



[168.] Masked Duck. Nomonyx dominions. 



This is a tropical species which is resident in Mexico, Central America and 

 in the West Indies. It occurs in Mexico north to the lower Rio Grande Val- 

 ley and has in three known instances strayed to northern United States. The 

 general plumage is a rusty chestnut, mottled with blackish, it has a black face 

 and throat, with white wing bars. 



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