RUDDY DUCK. : 539 
Notr.—A third and only remaining species of thisgenus, Gidemia perspicillata, Steph., 
Surf Duck, is recorded as taken at Mt. Carmel, Illinois, by Mr. Ridgway, at St. Louis, 
Missouri, by Mr. J. A. Allen, and as common on Lake Michigan, by Mr. Nelson. There 
is no record of its occurrence in Ohio, though it may be confidently looked for. 
GENUS ERISMATURA. Bonaparte. 
Tail feathers eighteen, narrow, rigid, spinous, and almost entirely exposed; the 
coverts much abbreviated. Bill broad, high at base and depressed at tip. Upper lat- 
eral angle running back on forehead farther than the lower edge of bill. Nostrils rather 
small, reaching to middle of bill. Nail from above very narrow, bent abruptly down- 
wards and backwards at the tip. Tarsus scarcely more than one-third the long feet. 
HWRISMATURA RUBIDA (Wils.) Bp. 
Ruddy IDuck. 
Fuligula rubida, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 166, 186. 
Erismaiura rubida, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 370, 379; Reprint, 1861, 12, 20; 
Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 574; Reprint, 1875, 14.—LANGDON, 
Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 17; Revised List, Journ, Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 186; 
Reprint, 20. 
Anas rubida, WILSON, Am. Orn., vill, 1814, 128. 
Hrismatura rubida, BONAPARTE, List, 1838, 59. 
The male in perfect plumage with neck all round, and the upper-parts brownish-red, 
the lower-parts silky-white watered with dusky, the chin and sides of the head dead- 
white, the crown and nape black, but not often seen in this condition in the United 
States; as generally observed, and the female at all times, brown above, finely dotted 
and waved with dusky, paler and duller below with darker undulations and sometimes 
a slight tawny tinge, as also occurs on the side of head; crown and nape dark-brown; 
erissam always white. Length, 14-17; wing, 5-6; tarsus, /4. 
Habitat, North America at large. South to Guatemala, where found breeding at 
Duenas. Cuba. 
Rather irregular, but sometimes abundant migrant in the fall; not 
common in spring. The Ruddy Duck is often seen in the fall on rivers 
and small streams in flocks of from fifteen to twenty birds, when they 
are frequently shot in considerable numbers, as they fly low and com- 
pactly at such times. When in the water no Duck excels them in diving, 
and they are hardly surpassed by the Grebes in this respect. The spring 
migration usually brings one or two males to notice in this vicinity each 
year, those first passing being in moult, those later in full breeding plum- 
age. Itmay perhaps breed in Northern Ohio, as they are believed, by Mr. 
Nelson, to breed in Northern Illinois. Dr. Coues discovered them breed- 
ing in Montana and Dakota. 
Sub-family Mercinm. Mergansers. 
Bill more or less nearly cylindrical, the nail hooked and overhanging, the lamella 
highly developed into prominent retrorse serrations. 
