SPE CIES 1 7. ^NySS P UBID US. 
RUDDY DUCK. 
[Plate LXXI. — Fig. 5, Mult Male,'\ 
Peale’s Museum, J^o. 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 Latham 
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 colour; and besides has some peculiari- 
ties which the eye of that acute ornithologist could not possibly 
have overlooked, 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- 
