506 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



Chaulelasmus streperus. 



THE GADWALL; GRAY DUCK. 



Anas strepera, Lixx. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 125 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 200. — Wils. Am. Orn. VIII. 1814, 

 120, pi. 71. — NuTT. Mail. II. 1834, 383. — AuD. Oru. Biog. IV. 1838, 353, pL 348 ; Synop. 

 1839, 378 ; 13. Am. VI. 1843, 254, pi. 388. 



Anas (Chauliodus) streperus, Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 1831, 440. 



Chaulelasmus streperus, "Guay, 1838 ;" List B. Br. Mus. 1844, 139. — Baikd, B. N. Am. 1858, 

 782 ; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 584. — CoUES, Key, 1872, 286 ; Check List, 1873, no. 491 ; 2d 

 ed. 1882, no. 711 ; Birds N. W. 1874, 563. — RiDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 604. 



Anas strepera a.mericana, Max. Jour, fiir Orn. II. 1842, 169. 



''Chaulelasmus americana, Bi'." (Gray). 



"Anas cinerea et subulata, S. G. Gmelin." (Gray). 



Anas kekuschka, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 531. 



"Ayias mail, Hodgson" (Gray). 



" Anas capcnsis,^\XKms,o-&" (Gray). 



Hab. Nearly cosmopolitan (Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America). Temperate North 

 America in general, breeding chiefly within the United States ; West Indies (Scl. & Salv.). 



Sp. Char. Adult male in fall, winter, and spring : Ground-color of the head and neck pale 

 brown, or brownish white, thickly speckled with black ; on the pileum the brown deeper and 



more uniform, and the specks obsolete ; on the occiput, 

 when present, they incline to the form of transverse 

 bars, Jugulum marked with greatly curved bars, or 

 crescents, of white and black, the bars of the latter 

 A\ider. Lateral portions of the body beneath, back, 

 and scapulars finely undulated, in curved transverse 

 lines, with slate-color and white. Many of the longer 

 scapulars plain brownish gray, broadly edged with a 

 lighter, more fulvous tint. Rump plain dull slate. 

 Tail-coverts, above and below, intense opaque velvety 

 black. Tail cinereous, faintly edged with white. 

 Middle rows of wing-coverts bright chestnut, the 

 anterior coverts Ijrownish gray, and the jDosterior ones 

 deep black ; last row deep velvety black. Speculum 

 immaculate pure white, the lower feathers cinereous 

 (some with black on outer webs), narrowly tipped 

 with white ; tertials plain pale ash, the primaries a 

 darker shade of the same. "Bill bluish black. Iris 

 reddish hazel. Feet dull orange-yellow, claws brown- 

 ish black, webs dusky" (AuDUBOx). Adult male, in 

 summer: "Crown brownish l)lack, witli a greenish tinge ; an indistinct streak through the eye, 

 dark brown ; rest of tbe head and neck dull brownish white, marked with blackish brown, as in the 

 previously described bird [adult male in spring] ; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts dark blackish 

 brown, each feather margined with rusty red ; wings and tail as in tlie Inid above described ; 

 breast dull rusty red, each feather with a central black spot ; flanks dark broMU, broadly marked 

 and margined with dull rufous ; the rest of the under parts dull white, each feather having a 

 central blackish brown-drop-shaped mark" (Sharpe & Dresser). 



Adult female: Colors chiefly brownish dusky and brownish white, in longitudinal streaks on 





Male. 



would answer for both species ; but the C. Couesl is immediately distinguished by its greatly inferior size, 

 which hardly exceeds that of a Teal, the different color of the bill and feet, and the singular discrepancy 

 in the lamelhe of the bill, which are much smaller, and one third more numerous. 



"Habitat: Washington Island, one of the Fanning Group, situated about latitude 6° N. and longitude 

 160° W." 



