On a duck new to the North American fauna

22 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

ON A DUCK NEW TO THE NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA.

By ROBERT RIDC^WAY.

About

nine yearssince(February2,1872),Mr.George A.

Boardman,

of Calais,Maine, senttotheSmithsonianInstitutiona

mounted

specimenof a

duck

obtainedinFulton Market,

New York

City,

and

supposedtohave beenshoton

Long

IslandSound,which he was unabletodeterminesat- isfactorily, but which he supposed to be a hybrid between the Eed-

he4d

{JEthyia americana)aiwl

some

otherspecies.

The

specimen

was

in

Immature

plumage, with the feathers of the first livery

much

worn, while those of the

new

moult, which were generally interspersed, indi- cated a verydifferent garb

when

the moultshouldhave beencompleted.

At

the time thespecimen

was

received atthe Smithsonian, I (also sup- posingit tobe a hybrid)

made

comparisons withnearly,ifnotquite,all

the

American

sjieciesofducks, but

was

unabletoget the slightest clue toitsparentage. It

was

thenputbackinthe case

and

not againthought ofuntilafew days ago,

when

in removingthespecimens withaviewto theirrearrangementI

happened

totake theonein questioninone

hand and an

adult femaleofthe

European

Eufous-crested

Duck

{Fuligula ru- fina) in theother;

and

having the

two

thusin a veryfavorableposition for comparison, I at once perceived a striking similarity in general appearance

and

inthe formofthe bill, which induced

me

toextend the examinationtoan adult male,theresultbeing thatnoquestionremained of thebird in question being an immature male of F.rufina, a species hithertonot detectedinNorth America. IhavewrittentoMr.

Boardman

requestingfullparticulars as to circumstances

and

date of capture, but have been unabletoelicit

any

further particularsthanthosegiven above.

As

the species has neverbeendescribed in

any work

on North

Amer-

icanbirds, Igivebelowa description ofthe three stages representedin thecollectionof theUnited States National

Museum,

as wellas of the

downy

young, the latter quoted from Dresser's "Birds of Europe";

also, theprincipal

synonyms and

references,compiled fromthe leading

European

authorities.

Genus FULIGULA,

^Stephens.*

"Branta," Boie,Isis, 1822,564 (typeAnasrufina, Pall.); not of Scopoli,1769, Fuligula,Steppiens, Gen. Zocil.xii.1824, 187(typeAnasrufina, Pall.).

Netta,Kaup,Nat. Syst. 1829, 102(sametype).

CalUchen,Brehm,Vog. Deutschl.1831, 921(sametype).

Mergoicles,Eyton,Cat. Brit. B. 1836, 57(sametype). ^

CnAii.

—

Similarto Fulix,but the bill decidedlybroader at the base thanatanyotherjDart, gradually narrowing*towardthe end, which has

*Somerecent authorities Lave, with apparently a not very particular regardfor structural characters,used the generic term Fuligula for the entire group oflobe- halluxcdriver-ducks, orthoseAvhichhaveusuallybeenassignedtothegenerai^M7i(/MZa, Fulix, and^thyia. But Anasrufina, Pall.,upon whichthegennsFuligulaofStephens

PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 23

a large

and

verybroad nail; maxilla very

much

depressed terminally, itsdepth atthe baseofthenail being only aboutone-fourththatatthe extremebase.

Male

withthehead rufous,the pileumornamented with averyfull,softtuftorbushycrest,occupyingthe wholetop of the head.

FuLiGrULA EUFiNA

(Pall.) Stephens.

TheRufous-crestedJDucTc.

Anasrufina,Pall. It.ii.App, 1773, 731,No.28.—Gmel. S.N.^i. 1788, 541.

Brantarufina, Boie, Isis, 1822,564.—Gray, Cat.Brit.B. 1863, 198.

FuUgularufina,Steph. Gen. Zoiil. xii.1824, 188.

—

Dresser, B.Eur. pt.sxii. Oct.

1873.

Neltarufina, Kaup,Nat. Syst. 1829, 102,

PlaUjpusrufinus, Brehm,ViJg.Deutschl.1831, 922.

Callichenrufinus, Brehm, t.c. 924.

Mergoidesrufina, Eyt. Rar.Brit.B. 1836,57.

Aythyartifina, Macgill. Man.Brit. B. 1846, 191.

Callichenrufieeps,Brehm,t.c. 922.

Callichen subrufinus, Brbhm,t. c.924.

Callichenmicropus, Brehm,t. c.925.

Callichenrufescens,Brehm, Vogelfang, 1855, 379.

Red-crestedPochard,Selby, Brit. Orn.ii.350.

—

Dresser, ^Z.c.

Bed-created WhistlingDuck, Yarrell, Brit.B. ed. 2, iii.327,fig.; ed. 3, iii. 329, fig.

—

Gray, I.c.

Hab. —Southern and eastern Europe, northern Africa, and India;

occasional in northern

and

central Europe,

and

casual in the British Islands; accidental in eastern U. S.

(Kew York

market,

Boardman;

spec, inU. S. Nat. Mus.).

Adult

^

^{(57207, U. S. Nat. Mus.; Hungary,}

W.

Schliiter).—

Head and

upper half of the neckdelicate pinkish cinnamon, or vinaceous-rufous, thefull, soft crest (occupying the entirepileum) paler

and

lessreddish, the feathers lightbuffat tips; lower half of theneck (includinganar- rowstripe which extends

up

the nape to theocciput),jugulum, breast, abdomen, anal region, crissum, upi>er tail-coverts,

and rump

brownish black, deepestonthe neck and jugulum,

and

with a decided dark-green gloss on the upper tail-coverts.

Back and

scapulars uniform light umber-drab or Isabella-color; wing-coverts

and

tertialsbrownish gray

;

speculum whitebasally,changinggradually intopalegrayish,thensuc- ceeded

by

a rather broad subterminal bar of dusky, the tipnarrowly

and

abruptly white; four outer primaries with outerends dusky^; inner quills pale ashy, with broad

dusky

ends; tail dull dark ^grayish.

A

broadbaror transversepatch across anterior scaj)ular region, anterior border of the wing,lining of the wing, ^axillars,

and

a very largepatch wasbased, isquite a differenttype from Fulix (formallyrestricted to F.marila and

itsalliesbyProfessorBaird, in 1858)andJEtlujia, andshould,in

my

^{opinion,besepa-}

rated generically. The first use of the term Branta in a generic sense was by

Scopoli in1769(forAnscrbernicla,L.,A. moschata,L.,A. torrita,L.,A. albifrons, L.

—

averyheterogeneous assemblage,whichinvalidatesitssubsequentemploymentunless restricted tooneoranother of thespeciesnamed byScopolinot alreadybeensupplied witha genericname,of which, however,thereappearstobe nonenot thusiirovided.

24 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.

covering the flanks

and

posteriorhalfof the sides, pure white. "Bill brightvermilion-red, the tipwhite; iridesreddish

brown;

legsorange- red. Total length 21 inches." (Dresser, B. Eur. pt. xxii.)

Wing,

10.20; culmen,2.00;tarsus, 1.50; middletoe, 2.25.

Adult9(57209, U.S. Nat.Mus.; Hungary,

W.

Schluter).—Crest

much

lessdeveloped thaninthe male, lighthair-brown,this color descending

j tothelevel ofthe lower border of theeye,

and

posteriorlycontinuingina1

narrowstripe

down

thenape;restofthehead

and

neck verypaleashy, asare alsothe lower parts ingeneral; jugulum,sides,

and

flanks light raw-umber brown, the tips of the feathers lighter; anal region

and

crissumuniformlight drab, thelatterwhitishterminally.

Upper

parts in generalumber-drab (thewingsbeing

more

brownish than in the

J

),

darkeron the

rump

; white patchat base of scapular region whollyob- solete,

and

white border to the

wing

indistinct; speculum pale ashy, becoming gradually dull white basally,

and

brownish

dusky

subter- minally,

and

with anarrow white terminalmargin as inthe

J

^{. "}

Eyes

hazel; beakblackish, witha pinktip, a portion of the lowermandible being yellowishpink^; legs

and

feetpinkish,

webs

blackish." (Dresser, Ic.)

Wing,

9.90; culmen, 1.90; tarsus, 1.50; middletoe, 2.20.

Immature S

^{(61957, U. S.Nat. Mus.; vicinity of}

New York

City,Feb., 1872, G. A. Boardman).

—

^{Similarin general appearance to} the adult 9,

as described above,butcrest

much

lessdeveloped(the tipsofthefeathers

much

worn)

and

decidedly

more

reddish in color; sides

and

underparts ofheadthicklyinterspersed with cinnamon-coloredfeathers(newmoult)

;

the jugulum,^breast,

and

posterior under parts also

mixed

with black feathers,indicating theapproachingadult livery; whitepatch atbase of scapular regionplainly indicated,

and

broadwhite borderto anterior portion of the

wing

very distinct; speculum

much

asin the 5,lacking thedistinctsubterminal

dusky

barof the adult

i

^.

Wing,

9.80; culmen, 1.80; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, 2.15.

^^Young in doicn ^(fide Baldamus, Cab. Journ. 1870, 280).—Differs fromevery other

duck

in this

plumage

thatI

know

in having a double olive-gray stripe fromthelores, dividing before the eye,

and

bordering the yellowish-gray eyebrow above

and

thecheeks andauricularsbelow upperparts,crown from thebaseofthebill, nape, back,

and

wingsdull olive-gray, excepting the spoton the shoulder,which, with therestof the body, ispale yellowish gray^; irisdark

brown

; billreddish

brown

with thenailwhite^; feetash-gray,with a greenishtinge,

webs and

toes narrowly edged withyellowish white."

(Dresser,

I. c.)