RUDDY DUCK. 
335 
three quarters, it is also less gibbous at the base than in the for- 
mer, and it is less depressed above; the tail feathers of the Ural 
Duck are guttered their whole length: those of the Ruddy Duck 
are slightly canaliculated at their tips; the lateral membrane of 
the inner toe of the latter is not half the breadth of that of the 
former. In other respects the females of the two species much 
resemble each other. In order to draw a just parallel, it would 
be necessary to examine a male specimen of the European Bird, 
which our cabinets do not possess. 
The female is fifteen inches in length; bill to the angle of the 
mouth one inch and three quarters long, its lower half very 
broad, of a deep dusky olive, the nail resembling a narrow clasp 
of iron; nostrils oval, with a curved furrow below them; eyes 
small and dark; the upper part of the head, from the bill to the 
hind-head, variegated with shining bronze and blackish brown, 
the latter crossing the head in lines; cheeks white, mixed with 
dusky, and some touches of bronze; lores drab and dusky, mixed 
with a small portion of white; neck short and thick, its lower 
half above, extending between the shoulders, drab, mixed with 
dusky; throat, and whole lower parts, dusky ash, the plumage 
tipt with dull white, having a silver gray appearance; the up- 
per parts are dusky, marked or pencilled with pale ferruginous, 
and dull white; breast slightly tinged with reddish brown; the 
wings are small, greatly concave, and, when closed, are short 
of the extremities of the tail-coverts about three quarters of an 
inch — they are dusky, their coverts finely dotted or powdered 
with white; tail dusky, marked at its extremity with a few very 
fine dots of reddish white, it extends beyond its upper coverts 
two inches and a half; under tail-coverts white; legs and feet 
dusky slate; weight sixteen ounces and a half. The gizzard of 
the above contained sand and some small seeds. Her eggs were 
numerous and tolerably large; hence, as she was shot in the 
month of October, it was conjectured that she was a bird of the 
preceding year. 
The young male, shot in April last, measured fifteen inches 
