162 
FEMALE RUDDY DUCK. 
“ The young male, shot in April last, measured fifteen inches 
in length ; its irides were dark brown ; bill, elevated at the 
base, slightly gibbous, and blue ash, from the nostrils to the 
tip, mixed with dusky, lower mandible, yellowish flesh colour, 
marbled with dusky ; crown, brown black ; throat and cheeks, 
as far as the upper angle of the bill, white, stained with bright 
yellow ochre ; auriculars, almost pure white ; the black from 
the crown surrounded the eyes, and passed round the white 
of the auriculars ; hind head, black, mixed with ferruginous ; 
breast and shoulders, bright ferruginous ; belly, ash and silver 
white ; back and scapulars, liver brown, finely penciled with 
grey and reddish white ; rump and upper tail- coverts, the same 
ground colour, but the markings not so distinct; wings, light 
liver brown, the lesser coverts finely powdered with grey ; on 
the back and scapulars, the flanks, and around the base of the 
neck, the brownish red, or bright mahogany-coloured plumage, 
which distinguishes the adult male, was coming out ; inner 
webs of the tail, partly dusky, outer webs, for two-thirds of 
their length, and the tip, dirty ferruginous ; legs, blue ash in 
front, behind, the toes and webs, dusky. When the tail is not 
spread, it is somewhat conical, and its narrow-pointed fea- 
thers are slightly guttered at their tips ; when spread, it is 
wedge-shaped. The trachea is of nearly equal diameter 
throughout ; and has no labyrinth or enlargement at its lower 
part. 
^‘Another young male, shot in October, measured fifteen and 
a quarter inches in length, and twenty-three inches in breadth ; 
bill, greenish black, lower mandible, yellowish flesh colour, 
mixed with dusky ; from the bill to the hind head a deep liver 
brown, the tips of the plumage bronzed ; whole upper parts 
dark umber brown, penciled with pale ferruginous, buff and 
white ; from the corner of the mouth, a brown marking ex- 
tended towards the eye ; tail, dusky, ash- coloured at its extre- 
mity ; legs and feet, dusky ash, toes paler, having a yellowish 
tinge, webs dusky, claws sharp. 
The shafts of the tail feathers of all these specimens, except 
