90 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



" The Ruddy Duck," says Mr. Audubon, " is by no means a 

 rare species in the United States. Indeed I consider it quite 

 abundant, especially in the winter months, in the peninsula of 

 Florida, where I have shot upwards of forty in one morning. In 

 our eastern districts they make their appearance early in Sep- 

 tember, and are then plentiful from Eastport to Boston, in the 

 markets of which, as well as of New-York, I have seen them. 

 On the Ohio and Mississippi, they arrive about the same time ; 

 and I have no doubt they will be found breeding in all our 

 Western territories, as soon as attention is paid to such matters 

 as the searching for nests, with the view of promoting science, 

 or of domesticating birds, which might prove advantageous to 

 the husbandman." 



It is curious to observe how widely different is the language 

 of the pioneer of American Ornithology, the eloquent and exact 

 Wilson. 



" This very rare Duck was shot, some years ago, on the river 

 Delaware, and appears to be an entire new species. The 

 specimen here figured, with the female that accompanies it, and 

 which was killed in the same river, are the only individuals of 

 their kind I have met with. They are both presez'ved in the su- 

 perb museum of my much I'espected friend, Mr. Peale, of this city. 



" On comparing this Duck with the description given by 

 Latham of the Jamaica Shoveller, I was at first inclined to be- 

 lieve I had found out the species ; but a more careful examina- 

 tion of both satisfied me that they cannot be the same, as the 

 present differs considerably in color ; and, besides, has some 

 peculiarities which the eye of that acute ornithologist could not 

 possibly have overlooked, in his examination of the species said 

 to have been received by him from Jamaica. Wherever the 

 general residence of this species may be, in this part of the 

 world, at least, it is extremely rare, since, among the many 

 thousands of Ducks brought to our markets during winter, I 

 have never heard of a single individual of the present kind 

 having been found among them. 



" The Ruddy Duck is fifteen inches and a half in length, and 



