6i8 THE RUDDY DUCK. 



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 stifnsh 

 feathers, which, except in the breeding season, have the tips of the shafts 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 brow r n 

 or 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 

 surface. Av. size, 2.45 x 1.80 (62.2 x 45.7). 



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 mercilesslv as some 



