370 RUDDY AND MASKED DUCKS 



October produces the drab winter plumage in which even the bill 

 changes colour and the two sexes are much alike. On this continent the 

 Old-squaw is the only other duck which has two such moults and dis- 

 tinct plumages for winter and summer. (Some ornithologists hold that 

 the female-like winter plumage of the male Ruddy is really a prolonged 

 eclipse plumage.) 



The colloquial names of the various ducks are often quite descrip- 

 tive; in no instance is this more true than in the case of the Ruddy Duck. 

 The following very apt, complete, and accurate description of this duck 

 is drawn from a selection of some of its many alternative names: It is a 

 neat little duck (dapper; dinky), quite small, being about the size of a 

 teal (partridge; teal) and very fat (butter; dumpling). It is of a red- 

 dish colour (ruddy; brown) with a broad, blue, spoon-shaped bill (blue; 

 broad; spoon) and a short, thick neck (bull). It has a peculiar, stiff, 

 bristly tail of spikey, quill-like feathers (bristle; spike; spine; quill). 

 Though it is found in the open waters and is a great diver (coot; diver) 

 it loves the muddy ponds and creeks of the vicinity (pond; creek; mud). 

 It is easily approached, being of a stupid, sleepy nature and seemingly 

 deaf or inattentive (booby; deaf; dumb; sleepy). It rises from the water 

 with great difficulty (splatterer), is not easy to kill due to the denseness 

 of its feathers, and is altogether a tough little customer (hickory; steel; 

 hard; tough; leather). 



The food of the Ruddy Duck is nearly three-quarters vegetable. The 

 stomach contents of 163 adults taken during nine months of the year 

 (January, February and August excepted), from 31 States and 5 Ca- 

 nadian Provinces, showed the average diet to be approximately of the 

 following percentages: pondweeds (various), 30; bulrushes, 16; other 

 sedges, 3; muskgrass, 4; wild celery, 2: miscellaneous plant food, 17; total 

 vegetable food, 72 per cent. Insects, 22; molluscs, 3; miscellaneous ani- 

 mal food, 3; total animal food, 28 per cent. Of the total stomach con- 

 tents, gravel averaged 38 per cent. 



With a diet which is so preponderantly vegetable, and in which 

 shellfish represents such a small percentage, Ruddys, as might be ex- 

 pected, are delicious table birds. They are regular gourmands and it is 

 said that at times they are found floundering on the water, helplessly 

 fat. They decoy readily and are always popular with sportsmen. 



In spring, by March or April, in various stages of its prenuptial 

 moult, the Ruddy is on its way back to its summer breeding grounds. 

 On its migration in autumn, usually in September, it follows the courses 

 of the streams and lakes, flying low and in large flocks. The flights are 

 made mainly early in the morning or during the dusk of the evening, 

 and perhaps even during the night. In winter they may be found in 

 large numbers on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Southern States; 

 here they gather in the shallower and more protected bays and estuaries, 

 where they fatten and thrive on the abundance of choice duck foods so 

 lavishly provided by nature in these chosen milder climes. 



What an amazing list of achievements the Ruddy Duck can claim! 



