454 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[213.] 4. Fuligula rufitorques. (Bonap.) Ring-?iecked Duck. 



Sub-family, Fuligulinse, Swains. Genus, Fuligula, Ray. 

 Tufted Duck (Anas fuligula). Wils., viii., p. 60, pi, 07, f. 5 ; male*. 

 Fuligula rufitorques. Bonap. Syn., p. 393, No. 341. 

 Cuskeetaw-skeep. Cree Indians and Chippeways. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, May 7, 1827- 



Colour. — Head and greater part of the neck greenish-black, reflecting deep violet-purple; 

 beneath which a dark chestnut-brown collar. Base of the neck, whole dorsal plumage, 

 tertiaries, greater coverts, breast, vent, and under tail coverts, greenish-black ; lesser coverts, 

 primaries, and tail, blackish-brown ; secondaries pearl-grey, narrowly tipped with white. 

 Belly white, from which a crescentic curve to the shoulder ; flanks and posterior part of the 

 belly finely undulated with blackish-brown. Bill black ; rictus, line round the base, and 

 belt near the tip of the upper mandible, light blue. Irides deep yellow. Legs blackish- 

 brown. 



Form. — Bill formed on the model of the English A. marila, but rather smaller and not 

 so wide ; larger than that of the smaller variety of the American Scaup Duck. Upper 

 laminae flat, rather broad, and not cutting, their points acute and slightly curved backwards. 

 Plumage of the crown and hind-head thick, and somewhat lengthened. Wings three inches 

 shorter than the tail. Tail short ; its feathers narrow, the lateral ones graduated. 



Female. — Upper plumage dark-brown, edged on the top of the head, shoulders, scapulars, 

 and breast, with chestnut : sides of the breast and flanks unmixed dark chestnut. Wings 

 mostly hair-brown : speculum as in the male. Region of the bill, throat, and belly, greyish- 

 white, speckled with brown ; posterior part of the belly liver-brown. The band near the 

 point of the bill fainter than in the male, and the line round the base scarcely perceptible. 

 The greater extent of the flattened triangular part of the bill next the front serves to dis- 

 tinguish the female of this species from that of the Scaup Duck. — In the young male a 

 year old, the belly is more clouded, the upper plumage wants the chestnut tints, and has a 

 darker colour than in the female, and the brown collar is not formed. 







Dimensions 













Of the male. 









Inch. 



19 



2 

 ■ 7 



Lin. 

 

 6 

 3 



Inch. 

 Length of bill above . . 1 

 „ of bill to upper angle 2 

 „ of bill to rictus . 2 



Lin. 

 10 











Length of tarsus 



,, of middle toe . 

 ,, of outer web 



Inch. Lin. 



1 4 

 • 2 1$ 



2 2 

 — R. 



Length, total 

 ,, of tail 

 „ of wing 



* The Fuligula rufitorques has no distinct crest like the European tufted duck (F. crustata, Bonap.) which Wilson 

 could never have seen, otherwise he would not have confounded it with the American bird. Indeed the latter bears 

 more resemblance to F. marila, the females of the two species being with difficulty distinguished. — R. 



