620 FEMALE RUDDY DUCK. 
of the species said to have been received by him from Jamaica. 
Wherever the general residence of this species may be, in this part of 
the world, at least, it is extremely rare, since, among the many thou- 
sands of Ducks brought to our markets during winter, I have never 
heard of a single individual of the present kind having been found 
among them. i : 
The Ruddy Duck is fifteen inches and a half in length, and twenty- 
two inches in extent; the bill is broad at the tip, the under mandible 
much narrower, and both ofa rich, light blue; nostrils, small, placed 
in the middle of the bill; cheeks, and chin, white; front, crown, and 
back part of the neck, down nearly to the back, black; rest of the 
neck, whole back, scapulars, flanks, and tail-coverts, deep reddish 
brown, the color of bright mahogany ; wings, plain pale drab, darkest 
at the points ; tail, black, greatly tapering, containing eighteen narrow- 
pointed feathers; the plumage of the breast and upper part of the 
neck is of a remarkable kind, being dusky olive at bottom, ending in 
hard, bristly points, of a silvery gray, very much resembling the hair 
of some kinds of seal-skins ; all these are thickly marked with trans- 
verse, curving lines of deep brown; belly and vent, silver gray, thickly 
crossed with dusky olive; under tail-coverts, white; legs and feet, 
ash colored. ; 
FEMALE. RUDDY DUCK. — Fie. 298. 
Peale’s Museum, No. 2809. 
FULIGULA RUBIDA.— Bonaparte, Youne. . 
Tuis is nearly of the same size as the male; the front, lores, and 
crown, deep blackish brown; bill, asin the male, very broad at the 
extremity, and largely toothed on the sides, of the same rich blue; 
cheeks, a dull cream; neck, plain dull drab, sprinkled about the au- 
riculars with blackish ; lower part of the neck and breast, variegated 
with gray, ash, and reddish brown; the reddish dies off towards the 
belly, leaving this last of a dull white, shaded with dusky ash; wings, 
as in the male; tail, brown; scapulars, dusky brown, thickly sprinkled 
with whitish, giving them a gray appearance ; legs, ash. 3 
A particular character of this species is its tapering, sharp-pointed - 
tail, the feathers of which are very narrow; the: body is short; the 
bill, very nearly as broad as some of: those called Shovellers; the 
lower mandible much narrower than-the upper. 
