THE RUDDY DUCK. §25 
ERISMATURA RUBIDA.— Bonaparte. 
The Ruddy Duck; Dipper Duck. 
Anas rubida, Wilson. Am. Orn., VIII. (1814) 128, 130. 
Anas (Fuligula) rubida, Bonaparte. Obs. Wils. (1825), 268. 
Fuligula (Gymnura) rubida, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 426. 
Fuligula rubida, Swainson. F. Bor. Am., II. (1881) 455. Aud. Orn. Biog., IV. 
(1838) 326. ., Birds Am., VI. (1843) 324. 
Erismatura rubida, Bonaparte. List (1838). 
DESCRIPTION. 
Bill grayish-blue; top of head and nape black; sides of head below the eyes. 
with the chin, pure opaque-white; lower part of neck all round, and the entire upper 
parts, with upper portion of sides, chestnut-red; under parts generally lustrous gray- 
ish-white, with an occasional brownish tinge; crissum pure-white; wings brown, 
without speculum, finely and almost inappreciably sprinkled with gray; tail nearly 
black; iris hazel. 
Female with the entire upper parts dark-brown; the back and wing coverts finely 
sprinkled with grayish; the under parts brownish-white, tinged with greenish-brown 
across the lower part of neck; the brown of the head comes down below the level 
of the eye, and there is an obscure dusky stripe parallel with its lower outline, from 
the commissure. 
The continuity of the white of the under parts is interrupted by the occasional 
appearance of the basal brown of the feathers, owing to the shortness of the white 
tip, which thus gives rise to the appearance of dusky transverse bands. 
Length, sixteen inches; wing, five and eighty one-hundredths; tarsus, one and 
twenty-six one-hundredths; commissure, one and eighty one-hundredths inches. 
Hab. — Whole of North America; abundant throughout the interior. 
This pretty little Sea Duck is not very common on our 
coast. It visits us only late in the autumn, and remains 
until early spring, frequenting the bays and inlets along the 
shore, where it feeds on small fish and mollusks, which it 
obtains by diving. It is so expert a diver that sportsmen 
recognize it by the name of “‘ Ruddy Diver” and “ Dipper ;” 
and all attest to the difficulty with which it is shot. 
Sub-Family Mrercinmz.— The Sheldrakes. 
Bill very slender, narrow, compressed, terminated by a conspicuous nail; edges 
much serrated, the serrations projecting; tarsi much compressed; the scales anteri- 
orly large and transverse, becoming smaller and smaller on the sides and behind; 
tail feathers eighteen in North-American species. 
