RUDDY DUCK. lOg 



« 



Through the polite attention of Mr. Charles Bonaparte, the editor was 

 enabled to examine a female specimen of the former ; and as he per- 

 ceived some differences, he will here note them. The bill of the Ural 

 Duck, from the angle of the mouth, is two inches long ; that of our 

 Duck is one inch and three-quarters, it is also less gibbous at the 

 base than in the former, and it is less depressed above ; the tail feathers 

 of the Ural Duck are guttered their whole length : those of the Ruddj 

 Duck are slightly canaliculated at their tips ; the lateral membrane of 

 the inner toe of the latter is not half the breadth of that of the former. 

 In other respects the females of the two species much resemble each 

 other. In order to draw a just parallel, it would be necessary to ex- 

 amine a male specimen of the European bird, which our cabinets do not 

 possess. 



The female is fifteen inches in length ; bill to the angle of the mouth 

 one inch and three-quarters long, its lower half very broad, of a deep 

 dusky olive, the nail resembling a narrow clasp of iron ; nostrils oval, 

 with a curved furrow below them ; eyes small and dark ; the upper 

 part of the head, from the bill to the hind-head, variegated with shining 

 bronze and blackish brown, the latter crossing the head in lines ; cheeks 

 white, mixed with dusky, and some touches of bronze ; lores drab and 

 dusky, mixed with a small portion of white ; neck short and thick, its 

 lower half above, extending between the shoulders, drab, mixed with 

 dusky ; throat, and whole lower parts, dusky ash, the plumage tipped 

 with dull white, having a silver gray appearance ; the upper parts are 

 dusky, marked or pencilled with pale ferruginous, and dull white ; 

 breast slightly tinged with reddish brown ; the wings are small, greatly 

 concave, and, when closed, are short of the extremities of the tail- 

 coverts about three-quarters of an inch — they are dusky, their coverts 

 finely dotted or powdered with white ; tail dusky, marked at its ex- 

 tremity with a few very fine dots of reddish white, it extends beyond its 

 upper coverts two inches and a half ; under tail-coverts white ; legs and 

 feet dusky slate ; weight sixteen ounces and a half. The gizzard of the 

 above contained sand and some small seeds. Her eggs were numerous 

 and tolerably large ; hence, as she was shot in the month of October, it 

 was conjectured that she was a bird of the preceding year. 



The young male, shot in April last, measured fifteen inches in length ; 

 its irides were dark brown ; bill elevated at the base, slightly gibbous, 

 and blue ash, from the nostrils to the tip mixed with dusky, lower man- 

 dible yellowish flesh color, marbled with dusky ; crown brown black ; 

 throat and cheeks, as far as the upper angle of the bill, white, stained 

 with bright yellow ochre ; auriculars almost pure white ; the black from 

 the crown surrounded the eyes, and passed round the white of the auri- 

 culars; hind-head black, mixed with ferruginous ; breast and shoulders 

 bright ferruginous; belly ash and silver white; back and scapulars 



