700 APPENDIX. [No. V 



Anas Americana. American Wigeon. 



These birds breed in the neighbourhood of Hudson's Bay in the spring, and go 

 southward in the winter, even so far as the West-India Islands. Wilson mentions 

 that they are constant attendants on the Canvas-back Ducks in the Chesapeake, 

 feeding on the same aquatic plant, which the latter birds detach from the bottom of 

 the waters by diving, but are robbed of it on the surface by their more active com- 

 panions. According to Wilson, the American Wigeon has the name of Bald-pate 

 in the United States, and Pennant states that one was received from New York as 

 the Pheasant Duck ; but, perhaps, this was one of the usual names of the A. Acuta 

 improperly applied. This species has a very general resemblance to the Common 

 Wigeon of Europe, A. Penelope; the top of the head in both, when mature, 

 is cream-coloured ; the neck in the European is bright ferruginous ; and in the 

 American is principally marked with specks and undulations of black or dingy 

 white, with rich glossy black and green lines passing from each eye backwards, which 

 meeting on the back of the neck extend as far down as the undulating markings on 

 the rest of the neck ; the sides under the wings in the European have the same 

 pencilled-marked feathers as the back ; the belly only being white, but in the 

 American both sides and belly are white. The specimen received was of a male in 

 the autumnal change, when it has not the light spot on the head, nor the other parts 

 of the plumage so brilliant or distinctly marked. Wilson describes the two middle 

 feathers of the tail as an, inch longer than the others, but this is not the case in the 

 specimen which has been under observation, 



Anas Rubidus. Ruddy Duck. 



Wilson has given figures and accounts of both male and female of this curious and 

 rare bird, but the figures are too small for satisfactory information ; he had never 

 seen more than two individuals, which he described, and which were killed on the 

 River Delaware. The specimen received was that of a male, and is peculiarly 

 valuable and interesting, because it not only confirms the species as introduced by 

 Wilson, but ascertains its summer habitation to be in the northern parts of America. 

 Wilson's work being in very few hands, and the subject, from its novelty and rarity, 

 being of importance, it seems desirable to add his description of both sexes, the 

 extreme correctness of which, as far as regards the male, is confirmed by the 

 specimen ; the only point of difference is in the length, which, according to Wilson, 

 is fifteen inches and a half, and that under notice near eighteen inches. The descrip- 

 tions of the male are as follows:—" the bill is broad at the tip, the under mandible 

 much narrower, and both of a 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 



