Birds 63 



Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) without a crest*. The Mottled 

 Duck (A. fulvigula maculosa) has the sexes alike, much resembling 

 the female Mallard. Another species of this genus (A. rubripes 

 of Brewster) has been recorded in Condor, vol. 14, p. 151, and it is 

 thought that most of the Colorado records of the Mottled Duck 

 really belong to this form. Farther south, from Albuquerque, 

 New Mexico to El Paso, Texas, is found the Anas novimexicana 

 of Huber. It has not been taken in Colorado, but may be expected 

 as a straggler. 



The species of Anatinae enumerated occur commonly in 

 Colorado, except the species of Anas other than the Mallard, and 

 the Wood-duck; the latter has however been taken a number of 

 times. The Fuligulinae are not so generally common; thus the 

 White-winged Scoter and Surf Scoter are rare winter visitors, the 

 American Scoter is an accidental straggler; the American Eider 

 (Somateria mollissima dresser i) has been taken only once; the 

 Ring-necked Duck is very rare; the Old-squaw is an occasional 

 visitor; the Scaup Duck is rather rare; the Harlequin Duck is 

 rare, but apparently breeds in the State. The Ruddy Duck 

 (Erismatura jamaicensis) is a summer resident breeding. 



The Anserinae or geese are included in three genera, of which 

 Branta has the bill and feet black. Chen has the bill and feet red, 

 the plumage mainly white; but the young are light gray above, 

 and have dark feet and bill. Anser has the bill pink and yellow 

 and the feet yellow, as represented by A. albifrons gambeli of 

 Hartlaub, extremely rare in Colorado. Of the three forms of Chen, 

 two are only rare stragglers; the third, the Snow-goose {Chen 

 hyperboreus of Pallas) is a regular bird of passage. Sclater notes: 

 "Goss states that he has seen thousands of these geese in the fall 

 and early spring in the Arkansas Valley, feeding on the winter 

 wheat, pulling up the young and tender blades with a sudden 

 jerk and doing a great deal of damage." Of our four kinds of 

 Branta, two are rare stragglers. The Canada Goose (Branta 



*Anas platyrhynchos was also named A. boschas by Linnaeus in the same work (Syst. Nat., 

 Ed. 10, 1758). It is thus described in Turtcn's edition of Linnaeus: "Inhabits Europe, Asia 

 and America, about stagnant waters; 23 inches long; feeds on frogs, snails and almost any 

 filthy substance; builds sometimes near waters, sometimes in trees; lays 10-16 bluish-white 

 eggs. Bill greenish-yellow; head and neck glossy-green; scapulars white with waved brown 

 lines; back brown; vent black-green; breast chestnut; belly grey; wing-spot violet-green, edged 

 above with a black and white line; two middle tail feathers dark green, recurvate. Female 

 reddish-brown spotted with black." The domesticated duck is the same species, and is of 

 course much more variable than the wild bird. The latter does however vary; an albinistic 

 specimen was named var. albescens (West Amer. Scientist, April 1889). 



