ANATIDZ, DUCKS.—GEN. 270. 298 
Size of the first; gape of bill about 24; 9 smaller; bill black, shorter, 
gape about 24; feathers of culmen hardly or not reaching nostrils; feet 
dark, tinged with dusky-reddish ; webs black; plumage sooty-brown, below 
silvery-gray, sides of head with much whitish, chiefly in two patches, one 
loral, the other auricular. Wits., viii, 49, pl. 67, f. 1; Nurv., ii, 416; 
UM ev, eoots pla 4023) BDs.806. - + . =>. «-'. |. “PHRSPICIELATA, 
Var. TROWBRIDGEI. With the bill longer, exceeding the head, and of slightly - 
different shape; feathers falling short of nostrils; gape about 22; white frontal 
patch small, its posterior border anterior to a line between the eyes, instead of 
reaching or passing beyond this. Cala. Bp., 806; Exxior, Introd. B. A., No. 64. 
270. Genus ERISMATURA Bonaparte. 
*,* Remarkably distinguished from other Puligqulince by the stiffened, linear- 
lanceolate tail feathers (16-20 in number) exposed to the base, by reason of extreme 
shortness of the coverts ; bill broad, flattened, the nail large, overhanging. 
Ruddy Duck. The ¢g in perfect plumage with the neck all round and the 
upper parts brownish-red, the lower parts silky silvery-white watered with 
dusky, the chin and sides of the head dead-white, the crown and nape black ; 
but not often seen in this condition in the U. S. As generally observed, and 
the 9 at all times, brown above finely dotted and waved with dusky, paler 
and duller below with darker undulations and sometimes a slight tawny 
tinge, as also occurs on the sides of the head; crown and nape dark brown ; 
bill dusky; crissum always white. Length 14-17; wing 5-6; tarsus 1}. 
N. Am., abundant. WixS., viii, 128, 130, pl. 71, f. 5, 6; Nurr., ii, 426; 
MOD VIO t ROOM EISD atolls co. oe) tents sper ue pee) RUBIDA. 
St. Domingo Duck. @ head anteriorly and chin black; hind-head, neck 
and breast deep ferrugineous; above brownish-red, blotched with black ; 
below lighter ferrugineous; speculum white. 9 similar, but less strongly 
marked. 134; wing 64; tail 33; bill 14, smaller and less expanded than 
in the preceding. S. Am. and W. Indies, accidental in U.S. The only 
known instances are Lake Champlain (Cazor, Proc. B. 5. INSEL Evisgoe) is 
Wisconsin (Kumuein; ibid. xiv, 154; Am. Nat. v, 441). 2. dominica 
Bp, 925; L. ortygoides Gossx, Birds of Jamaica, 405. . . DOMINICA. 
Subfamily MERGIN AZ. Mergansers. 
Bill more or less nearly cylindrical, the nail hooked and overhanging, the 
lamellz highly developed into prominent retrorse serrations. Excepting these 
characters of the bill, the fishing-ducks are simply Fuwligulinee, somewhat modified in 
adaptation to a more exclusively animal regimen; the principal point in their 
economy is ability to pursue fish under water, like cormorants, loons and other 
birds of lower orders. The nature of their food renders their flesh rank and 
unpalatable. The gizzard is rather less muscular than in most ducks; the intes- 
tines and their ececa are shorter; the laryngeal capsule of the males is very large, 
irregular, and partly membranous; the trachea has other dilations. Birds of this 
group inhabit fresh as well as salt water, and are abundant in individuals if not in 
species. There are only about eight species, chiefly of the Northern Hemisphere ; 
but several occur in South America. 
