128 



RUDDY DUCK. 

 AJVAS RUBIDUS. 

 [Plate LXXI.— Fig. 5, Male.'\ 



Peale's JVliisewm. eYo, 2808. 



/ 



THIS very rare Duck was shot, some years ago on the river 

 Delaware, and appears to be an entire new species. The speci- 

 men here figured, with the female that accompanies it, and which 

 was killed in the same river, are the only individuals of their kind 

 I have met with. They are both preserved in the superb Museum 

 of my much respected friend, Mr. Peale, of this city. 



On comparing this Duck with the description given by La- 

 tham of the Jamaica Shoveller ^ I was at first inclined to believe I 

 had found out the species ; but a more careful examination of both 

 satisfied me that they cannot be the same, as the present differs 

 considerably in color ; and besides has some peculiarities which 

 the eye of that acute ornithologist could not possibly have over- 

 looked, in his examination 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 thousands 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. 



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 un- 

 der mandible much narrower, and both of a rich light blue ; nos- 

 trils 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 co- 



