108 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
This duck is probably not as common in our waters as the preceding, but 
owing to its conspicuous markings it is more generally recognized and hence 
more often recorded. Like the 
others it is a bird of late fall, 
winter and early spring, but 
not so likely to remain through 
the winter as the White-winged 
Scoter. Mr. N. A. Eddy calls 
it less common in fall migration 
on Saginaw Bay. Major Boies 
secured one which was killed 
on the St. Mary’s River near pa 
Neebish Island about the Ly 
middle of October; one was 
killed at St. Clair Flats October 
13, 1904, by W. H. Marquette, 
and mounted in Detroit 
(Swales); J. Claire Wood re- Fig. 28. Surf Scoter—Male. 
River November 10, 1903. i, alt fasten New York” Coughton, Min & Co) 
W. Nelson says it is common on Lake Michigan and adjacent waters (Bull. 
Nutt. Orn. Club, I, 41). Kumlien & Hollister say “Not rare on Lake 
Michigan in winter, and usually found on all the larger inland lakes in late 
fall. Seldom taken in the spring, most of the specimens being young or 
immature birds” (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 26). 
Like the other scoters this species feeds mainly on shellfish and spends 
much of its time in diving for this food. Its flesh is rank and fishy in 
consequence. It nests well to the northward, and we have no reason to 
suppose that it ever breeds within our limits. The nest and eggs are similar 
to those of the other scoters, and the eggs, which are pale buff or pale creamy 
buff, average 2.47, by 1.70 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Feathers of the head extending much farther forward than those of the lores; sides of 
the upper mandible swollen at the base and naked. Adult male entirely black except 
for a squarish white patch on the crown between the eyes and a much larger triangular 
white patch on the nape; wings without any white; bill in life conspicuously colored with 
black, red, and white; iris white. Adult female mainly dusky gray or grayish-brown, 
somewhat paler on the belly, and usually with an indistinct whitish patch near the corner 
of the mouth; the bill not much swollen at the base and uniformly dark colored. Young 
in first winter similar to adult female, but the sides of the head with two indistinct white 
patches, one near the base of the bill, the other below and behind the eye. 
Length of male 20 to 22 inches; wing 9.25 to 9.75; culmen_1.30_to 1.60. Length of 
female 18 to 19 inches. = tae 
57. Ruddy Duck. Erismatura jamaicensis (Gmel.). (167) 
Synonyms: Spine-tail Duck, Fool Duck, Deaf Duck, Shot-pouch, Bull-neck, Rook, 
Roody, Dipper, ete.—Anas jamaicensis, Gm., 1789.—Anas rubida, Wils.—Fuligula rubida, 
Sw. & Rich., 1831, Aud., 1838.—Erismatura rubida, Bp., 1838, and most later authors. 
Figure 29. 
The small size, short, thick neck and extremely short upper tail-coverts, 
leaving the tail-feathers exposed almost to their roots, are points which 
