No. 306. 
RUDDY DUCK 
( A. O. U. No. 167. Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmel.). 
Description.—Adult male: ‘Top of head and nape black; cheeks and chin 
white ; neck all around, chest, sides ot breast, sides, and upper parts, 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, except m the breeding season, have the tips of the shatts more 
or less exposed; remaining under parts 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 immature: Above, including top of head, dark grayish brown 
er 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 .92 (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.—Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, of reeds, etc., built up in 
margin or floating in water of pond or sluggish stream; deserted Coots’ nests 
sometimes used. Eggs, 6-10, buffy or creamy white, and with finely granulated 
Surtace, “Aly, size, 25 aq 1:60) (G2i2 45 r 
General Range.—North America in general, south to the West Indies and 
through Central America to Colombia; breeds throughout much of its North 
American range and south to Gautemala. 
Range in Ohio.—Rare spring, not uncommon fall, migrant. Not known to 
breed, but probably has done so. 
SINCE the establishment of the new three-acre reservoir for the water 
supply of Oberlin, I have been agreeably surprised to find this duck a frequent 
visitor during both migrations. It is usually considered one of the less com- 
mon ducks, the state over, but here it is seen more often than any but the 
Buffle-head and Lesser Scaup. It is never numerous in individuals, the flocks 
seldom numbering over half a dozen. ‘The males usually predominate, but 
each flock contains at least one female. Sometimes two males, or one male 
and one female come together and leave together. 
This duck is even less wary than the Buffle-head, perhaps because its 
flesh is not considered a delicacy, and it is not hunted so mercilessly as some 
