THE BIRDS OP HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN EEPUBLIC 107 



The ruddy duck is short and compact in body with a full, heavy 

 neck and broad bill. The throat and back of the male in full 

 plumage are bright rufous-brown, and in the young male, male in 

 eclipse dress and the female grayish-brown. The species is easily 

 known by the stiffly pointed tail-feathers, which are often held erect 

 as the bird swims, and by the very short upper tail coverts. 



NOMONYX DOMINICUS (Linnaeus) 

 MASKED DUCK, PATO CHORIZO, CROTJBE 



Anas dominica Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 201 (Hispaniola). 



Croube, Descouetilz, Voy. Nat., vol. 2, 1809, pp. 254-256 (Haiti). 



Querguedula Dominicensis Bbisson, Ornith., vol. 6, 1760, pp. 472-474, pi. 41, 

 fig. 2 (" S. Domingue," specimen). 



Anas dominica, Descoubtilz, Voy. Nat., vol. 2, 1809, p. 42 ( " lagon Peinier," 

 Artibonite). — Ritteb, Naturh. Reis. Westind. Insel Hayti, 1836, p. 157 (listed). 



Erismatura dominica, Tippenhauek, Die Insel Haiti, 1892, pp. 318, 323 

 (listed). 



Nomonyx dominicus, Verbhx, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1909, p. 355 

 (Colorado River near Sanchez). — Petees, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 61, 1917, 

 p. 399 (El Batey, specimen). 



Resident; apparently rare. 



The earliest account of this curious little duck that we have seen 

 is that of Brisson who describes its color and form in detail, says 

 that it occurs in " S. Domingue & au Mexique " and that he had 

 examined it in the collection of Abbe Aubry. As he designates it 

 " La Sarcelle de S. Domingue " we may suppose that the specimen he 

 examined came from Hispaniola. 



Definite records are few. Verrill under this species remarks, 

 " Colorado River, Sanchez, rare " a record that may be open to some 

 doubt. Peters shot a male among reeds at the border of a lagoon 

 near El Batey, on April 5, 1916, the only existing specimen from 

 the island known to us at the present time. Abbott believes that 

 some little ducks seen on Laguna del Diablo on the Samana Penin- 

 sula, March 12, 1919, were this species but did not collect specimens. 



In Haiti Bartsch reports this species as seen on Trou Caiman, 

 Haiti, April 4, 1917. Descourtilz found it in the " lagon Peinier " 

 on the plain of the Artibonite, in April, 1799, and says of it that it 

 is solitary, that its flight is very low and for only a short distance, 

 and that its eggs which are white are very large for the size of 

 the bird. Bond believed that a bird described to him under the 

 name of Canard Zombi was this species but was not certain. 



The masked duck is found in reed grown lagoons where it seldom 

 ventures into the open. When alarmed it may dive and disappear 

 with all the facility of a grebe or may fly to some cover. 



