HO BIRD NAMES. [No. 31. 



RUDDY DUCK of Wilson, 1814. Though first introduced in 

 that year to the ornithologists, and as " very rare," the species 

 may have been familiar enough to the gunners under one or 

 more of the following names. It is difficult to believe that a 

 variety now so very common, and mentioned by Dr. Sharpless in 

 Doughty 's Cabinet, Vol. III., 1833, as abounding " in every nook 

 and cove " of the Chesapeake, was really as rare as "Wilson sup- 

 posed, though it has, doubtless, increased in numbers since his 

 time. 



At Machiasport, Me., BLUE-BILL (see Nos. 17, 18, 19) ; at 

 Bath, Me., and Newport, K. L, BROAD-BILL (again, see Nos. 17, 

 18, 19 ; also No. 14) ; at Fairhaven, Mass., BROAD-BILL DIPPER; 

 at Stonington, Conn., HARD-HEADED BROAD-BILL; in New 

 Jersey at Barnegat, Tuckerton, and Atlantic City, SLEEPY 

 BROAD-BILL; at Kennebunk, Me., HORSE-TURD DIPPER (the 

 birds being so termed, I am told, from their habit, when alarmed, 

 of huddling together in a mass) ; at Provincetown, Mass., DIP- 

 PER, DOPPER, and DAPPER (see No. 24) ; at Eastville, Va., MUD 

 DIPPER; at Portsmouth, N. EL, BUMBLE-BEE COOT; in Mass., 

 at Cohasset, CREEK COOT; to some at Cohasset, and commonly 

 at North Scituate (same state), HORSE-TURD COOT ; at Baltimore, 

 Md., COOT simply (see our Coot of the ornithologists No. 32; 

 also Nos. 28, 29, 30, 33, 37) ; to some in the vicinity of Plym- 

 outh, Mass., SPOON-BILL (see No. 14) ; in the neighborhood of 

 Niagara Falls, SPOON-BILLED BUTTER-BALL; occasionally at 

 Havre de Grace, Md., Norfolk, Va., Newberne, N. C., Savannah, 

 Ga., and commonly in Golden City, Mo., Palatka and Sandford, 

 Fla., BUTTER-BALL, the commonest name at Norfolk being 

 BUTTER-DUCK. 



The Buffle-head, No. 24, may have a prior claim to " Butter- 

 ball" and "Butter-duck," but how would it do to leave the 

 Ruddy in full possession of all the names having butter in them, 

 and to call the former, which is less valuable for table use, the 

 Oleomargarine-ball, etc., etc. ? 



We hear also at Norfolk BUTTER-BOWL, BATTER-SCOOT, and 

 BLATHER-SCOOT, and in the Norfolk Yirginian of December 12, 

 1884, the species is referred to as BLATHERSKITE and BLADDER- 



