64 Birds of Colorado 
California and Florida, and in the interior to the Great Lakes and 
the prairie states to the west. 
In Colorado the status of this Scoter is very similar to that of 
the White-winged, but it has not been noticed quite so often. H. G. 
Smith first reported it—a young male or female—from Marston 
Lake, near Denver, in October, 1887. There are two examples in 
the State collection at Denver—a male from Barr Lake, obtained by 
L. B. Meek, October 22nd, 1899, and another from Loveland, shot 
by H. A. Flynn, October 31st of the same year. 
Habits.—All the Scoters are very similar in habits ; 
they are essentially marine Ducks, feeding principally 
on mussels and other shell-fish. Consequently their 
flesh is coarse and rank. They live almost entirely on 
the water, sleeping there at night and swimming and 
diving during the day. 
Genus ERISMATURA. 
Bill about equal to the head ; the nail at the tip hardly visible from 
above but expanded below, and decurved and bent back underneath 
the tip of the bill; tail-feathers 16 to 20 in number, elongated, more 
than half the length of the wing, stiffened and exposed almost to their 
bases owing to the shortness of the coverts; tarsus short, about half 
the middle toe with claw. 
An almost cosmopolitan genus with only one North American species. 
Ruddy Duck. Hrismatura jamaicensis. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 167—Colorado Records—Aiken 72, p. 210; 
Drew 85, p. 18; Beckham 85, p. 144; W. G. Smith 88, p. 132 ; Morrison 
89, p. 165 ; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 57, 196; 06, p. 63; Keyser 02, p. 143; 
Dille 03, p. 74; Henderson 03, p. 234, 09, p. 226; Warren 09, p. 13. 
Description.—Male—Crown and back of the neck black ; sides of the 
face from the bill to the ear-coverts, including the chin, white ; lower 
neck all round, sides and upper-parts, rufous chestnut ; dusky brown 
on the wings, rump and tail; below silvery white, slightly mottled 
with brown, especially about the lower flanks; iris reddish-brown, 
bill, eyelids and feet bluish. Length 17; wing 6-0; tail 3-5; culmen 
1-6; tarsus 1-2. 
The young male and adult female are mottled rufous and dusky, 
speckled brown, above and below, rather darker on the crown and 
whiter on the cheeks ; below, the rufous forms a tawny wash. 
The shape of the bill and the long stiff tail at once distinguishes 
this Duck from all others. 
