BREWSTEH : BIKDS OF THE CAPE llEGIOX, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 47 



of my specimens from the eastern or central portions of North America. In 

 all other respects they seem t(j agree perfectly with eastern birds of the same 

 age and sex. 



Tlie Ruddy Duck appears to be resident in the Cape Region. It was found 

 by Mr. Xantus at San Jose del Cabo in December and Februaiy, and at Laguna 

 de Santiago, and in the Saint Lazaro Mountains in January. According to Mr. 

 Belding it was " very common " in the " vicinity of La Paz, and southward " 

 in the winter and early spring of 1882-83. 



Mr. Frazar met with it first at San Jose del Cabo, where two were seen on 

 October 18 and a few during the following week. At the time he naturally 

 supposed these birds to be migrants from further north, as indeed they may have 

 been, but on reaching Santiago earlv in November he found, in the lagoon al- 

 ready mentioned (in connection with the Short-winged Grebe), a large breeding 

 colony of Ruddy Ducks, most of which were young of various sizes still following 

 their mothers. Two specimens in his collection taken, on November 16, from a 

 Lrood of five, cannot have been more than a few days from the egg M-hen killed. 

 The late date at which these young birds were found is somewhat difficult to 

 explain, for in Mexico and Central America, where the species is said to breed 

 numerously, the eggs are laid in May or June.^ Mr. Frazar was toLl, how- 

 ever, that the lagoon at Santiago, which, at the time of his visit, was filled 

 with water several feet in depth, dries np every few years, and this fact may 

 have something to do with the unusual season at which the Ruddy Ducks and 

 Short-winged Grebes were breeding there. The Ruddy Duck has been " found 

 nesting at lat. 31° N. by Mr. Anthony " (Bryant), and Mr. Grinnell states that 

 it breeds sparingly iu Los Angeles county, Califoruia.- 



Anser albifrons gambeli (IIartl.). 



American White-fronted Goose. 



Anxer albifrons gambeli Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 267 (Los 

 Martires). 



The American "White-fronted Goose is not mentioned in any of the earlier 

 papers relating to the Cape Region, but Mr. Belding told Mr. Bryant " that a 

 hunter (Mr. Fisher) shot one of a group of four at Los Martires, between La 

 Paz and San Jos^ del Cabo " (Bryant). 



" Mr. Grayson met with this species on the western coast of Mexico, near 

 Mazatlan, where, from the month of September until February, it occurs in 

 considerable flocks, appearing to migrate up and down the southern Gulf 

 shores. " ^ It is also abundant in winter in California. Its breeding grounds 

 lie far to the northward of the United States. 



1 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water Birds N. Amer , IL 1884, 106. 



2 Pub. II. Pasadena Acad. Sci., 1898, 12. 



3 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water Birds N. Araer., I. 1884, 452. 



