35 
RUDDY DUCK 
Fuligula rubida, Wilsu, 
PLATE OCOXOIX. — Male, Female, and Young. 
Look at this plate, reader, and tell me whether you ever saw a greater 
difference between young and old, or between male and female, than is 
apparent here. You see a fine old male in the livery of the breeding season, 
put on as it were expressly for the purpose of pleasing the female for awhile. 
The female has never been figured before ; nor, I believe, has any represen- 
tation been given of the young in the autumnal plumage. Besides these, 
you have here the young male at the approach of spring. 
The Ruddy Duck is by no means a rare species in the United States ; 
indeed I consider it quite abundant, especially during the winter months in 
the Peninsula of Florida, where I have shot upwards of forty in one morn- 
ing. In our Eastern Districts they make their appearance early in Septem- 
ber, and are then plentiful from Eastport to Boston, in the markets of which, 
as well as of New York, I have seen them. On the Ohio and Mississippi 
they arrive about the same period ; and I have no doubt that they will be 
found breeding in all our Western Territories, as soon as attention is paid to 
such matters as the searching for nests with the view of promoting science, 
ox of domesticating birds which might prove advantageous to the husband- 
man. 
My friend Dr. Bachman informs me that this species is becoming more 
abundant every winter in South Carolina. In the month of February he 
has seen a space of the extent of an acre covered with it. Yet he has never 
found one in full summer plumage in that country. It is equally fond of 
salt or brackish and of fresh waters ; and thus we find it at times on our sea- 
coasts, bays, and mouths of rivers, as well as on lakes and even small ponds 
in the interior, or on our salt marshes, provided they are not surrounded by 
trees, as it cannot rise high in the air unless in an open space of considerable 
extent. At the time of their arrival, they are seen in small flocks, more 
than from seven to ten being seldom found together, until they reach the 
Southern States, where they congregate in great flocks. When they leave 
their northern breeding-grounds some proceed along the coast, but a greater 
number along our numerous rivers. 
The flight of the Ruddy Duck is rapid, with a whirring sound, occasioned 
