ERISMATURA. H3 



upper parts more uniform, and plumage everywhere of softer 

 texture. Eggs 2.47 X 1-70, pale buff, or pale creamy buff. Hab. 

 North America in general, breeding far northward; south, in winter, 

 to Jamaica, the Carolinas, Ohio River, and Lower California ; acci- 

 dental in Europe 166. O. perspicillata (LiNN.). Surf Scoter. 



GENUS ERISMATURA BONAPARTE. (Page 87, pi. XXVI., fig. 4.) 



Species. 



COMMON CHARACTERS (of American species). Adult males with upper parts 

 uniform rich reddish chestnut ; head partly or entirely black, the bill fine light 

 blue in life. Females and young, dull grayish brown above, finely mottled (some- 

 times indistinctly barred) with paler; sides of head dull whitish, crossed by a 

 longitudinal dusky bar or band. 



a 1 . Width of bill near end .90-.95. 



Adult male : Above, including neck, bright reddish chestnut ; top of head 

 black ; entire side of head, below eyes, white ; lower parts, from chest back, 

 whitish (the feathers dark brownish gray immediately beneath the sur- 

 face, and this sometimes completely exposed by wearing away of the 

 light-colored tips), sometimes overlaid by a bright rusty wash or stain. 

 Adult female and young male : Above grayish brown, finely mottled and 

 sometimes indistinctly barred with grayish buff; top of head darker; 

 rest of head grayish white, crossed longitudinally by a stripe of mottled 

 brownish, from corner of mouth to ear-coverts ; neck pale brownish 

 gray, lower parts dull whitish (on surface). Downy young : Above dark 

 smoky brown, darker on head ; a whitish spot on each side of back ; be- 

 low eye, from bill to occiput, a stripe of brownish white, and beneath 

 this a narrower one of dusky brown, confluent with the brown of the 

 nape ; beneath, grayish white, shading into sooty brown on chest. 

 Length about 13.50-16.00, wing 5.75-6.00, culmen about 1.50-1.60. 

 Eggs 2.42 X 1-80, oval or ovoid, white or pale buffy, with finely but dis- 

 tinctly granulated surface. Hab. Temperate North America, south to 

 New Granada and West Indies. 



167. E. rubida (WiLs.). Ruddy Duck. 



a\ Width of bill near end only .70-.85. 



Adult male : Head and neck (except lower half of latter in front) uniform 

 black ; rest of plumage essentially as in corresponding stage of E. rubida. 

 Adult female : Similar to same sex of E. rubida, but darker and very dis- 

 tinctly barred on the sides and upper parts with light fulvous or bufiy. 

 Hab. Southern South America. 



E. ferruginea ETTON. Ferruginous Duck. 1 



1 Erismatura ferruginen EYTON, Mon. Anat. 1838, 170. 

 15 



