TEE RUD DYS DUCK 817 
No. 330. 
RUDDY DUCK. 
Se O. U. No. 167. Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmel.). 
Synonyms.—PIN-TAlL. QUILL-TAIL. SPINE-TAIL. Ruppy Diver. Spoon- 
BILLED BUTTER-BALL. BiUE-BILL. BULL-NECK. 
Description.—4Adult male: ‘Top of head and nape black; cheeks and chin 
white; neck all around, chest, sides of breast, sides, and upperparts, rich chestnut- 
red; wings, lower back (but not upper coverts), and tail, blackish; tail, mostly 
exposed, widely spread, graduated at sides, composed of eighteen to twenty stiffish 
feathers, which, exvcept in the breeding season, have the tips of the shafts more 
or less exposed; remaining underparts silvery white (overlying dark brownish 
gray, which is irregularly and sometimes completely exposed, especially on sides, 
according to the wear of the plumage), lightly washed, especially on breast, with 
bright rusty; bill light blue; feet bluish gray with dusky webs; iris brownish red. 
Adult female and unmature: Above, including top of head, dark grayish brown 
or dusky, finely mottled, or sometimes indistinctly barred, on scapulars, etc., with 
buffy gray; throat and sides of head and neck, contrasting with crown, whitish, 
usually crossed longitudinally on sides of head by an indistinct dusky band ; under- 
parts as in adult male, but underlying brown more extensively outcropping, and 
fore-neck, chest and sides heavily tinged with bright rusty or ochraceous. Length 
14.00-16.50 (355.6-419.1) ; wing 5.67 (144); tail 2.65 (67.3); bill 1.60 (40.6) ; 
greatest breadth of bill .o2 (23.4); tarsus 1.36 (34.5). Females average a little 
smaller. 
Recognition Marks.—Teal size or slightly larger; chestnut-red coloring of 
male; dark and light contrasting on side of “head in female and young; “chunky” 
appearance; tail of stiff, usually pointed, feathers, generally upturned while on 
water. 
Nesting.—Nest: of reeds, etc., built up in margin or floating in water of 
pond or sluggish stream; deserted Coots’ nests sometimes used. Eggs: 6-14, buffy 
or dull white, and with finely granulated surface. Av. size, 2.45 x 1.80 (62.2 x 
45-7). Season: c. May 20; one brood. 
General Range.—North America in general, south to the West Indies and 
thru Central America to Colombia; breeds thruout much of its North American 
range and south to Guatemala. 
Range in Washington.—Not common migrant west of the Cascades; more 
common migrant and summer resident on the East-side. 
Authorities —Erismatura rubida, Lawrence (R. H.), Auk, Vol. IX. Jan. 
TSO2 5 pa 42a kulae Zee 
Specimens.—U. of W. P. Prov: C. 
IT is reported of a South Sea missionary that, when approached by 
a band of cannibals brandishing spears of sharks’ teeth, instead of fleeing 
in terror, he ran forward and embraced the chief, with such show of 
friendliness that he completely won the savage heart. In such manner the 
