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FULIGULA RUBIDA— WILS. 



RUDDY DUCK. 



Ruddy Duck, Anas rubida, Wils. Amer. Orn. 



Fuligula rubida, Bona[). Syn. 



Fuligula rubida Ruddy Duck, Sw. & Rich. 



Ruddy Duck, Nun. Man. 



Ruddy Duck, Fuligula rubida, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Bill grayish-blue — one inch and seven-eighths 

 long — high at the base — broad and flattened toward the end — eye 

 small — situated high ; tail much rounded, the feathers rigid, nar- 

 row — the lower plumage stiff and glossy. Adult male with the bill 

 bluish — upper part of the head black, terminating in a point as it 

 extends on the hind neck — sides of the head white — chin white 

 tinged with yellowish-brown — neck, upper parts, and sides, reddish- 

 brown — lower parts silver-white, barred with dusky — lower tail- 

 coverts white, tinged with yellowish-brown. Tail black, short, and 

 rounded, the feathers very stiff and narrow. Wings blackish-brown. 

 Female, with the crown and upper parts dark reddish-brown, mark, 

 ed with dusky; lower parts duller; throat, and a band from the 

 base of the upper mandible to beneath the eye, brownish-white ; bill 

 darker than that of the male. Length fourteen inches, wing six 

 inches. 



This species is rare in this vicinity In Massachusetts Bay it is 

 frequently met with, but in the Chesapeake Bay it is more common, 

 and is known to the gunners by the name of "Salt-water Teal." It 

 frequents the salt ponds along the sea-coast, and, its said, procures 

 its food by diving, subsisting chiefly on marine plants. 



