62 FEMALE RUDDY DUCK. 
mahogany-coloured plumage, which distinguishes the adult 
male, was coming out; inner webs of the tail, partly dusky, 
outer webs, for two-thirds of their length, and the tip, dirty 
ferruginous; legs, blue ash in front, behind, the toes and webs, 
dusky. When the tail is not spread, it is somewhat conical, 
and its narrow-pointed feathers are slightly guttered at their 
tips; when spread, it is wedge-shaped. The trachea is of 
nearly equal diameter throughout ; and has no labyrinth or 
enlargement at its lower part. 
“ Another young male, shot in October, measured fifteen and 
a quarter inches in length, and twenty-three inches in breadth ; 
bill, greenish black, lower mandible, yellowish flesh colour, 
mixed with dusky; from the bill to the hind head a deep 
liver brown, the tips of the plumage bronzed ; whole upper 
parts, dark umber brown, pencilled with pale ferruginous, buff, 
and white ; from the corner of the mouth, a brown marking 
extended towards the eye; tail, dusky, ash-coloured at its 
extremity; legs and feet, dusky ash; toes paler, having a 
yellowish tinge; webs, dusky ; claws sharp. 
“The shafts of the tail-feathers of all these specimens, 
except that shot in April, projected beyond the webs ; in one 
specimen, the shaft of one of the middle feathers projected an 
inch, and was ramified into rigid bristles, resembling those of 
the tail of Buffon’s Sarcelle a queue épineuse de Cayenne, PI. 
Enl. 967; in all the specimens, there was the appearance of 
the tail-feathers having been furnished with the like process, 
but which had been rubbed off. Can it be that this duck 
makes use of its tail in climbing up the fissures of rocks, or 
the hollows of trees? Its stiff narrow feathers, not unlike 
those of the tail of a woodpecker, would favour this supposi- 
tion. It is worthy of note, that the tail of Mr Bonaparte’s 
female specimen alluded to above is thus rubbed. 
“The plumage of the neck and breast, which Wilson says 
is of a remarkable kind, that is, stiff and bristly at the tips, is 
common to several ducks, and therefore is no peculiarity. 
“The body of this species is broad, flat, and compact; its 
