BIRDS OF SOUTHERN VERACRUZ — WETMORE 235 



Family THRESKIORNITHIDAE 



AJAIA AJAJA (Linnaeus) : Roseate Spoonbill 



Platalea Ajaja Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 140 (Jamaica). 



Carriker recorded one May 1, 1940, between Tlacotalpam and Boca 

 San Miguel. Nelson and Goldman found this species near Tlacotal- 

 pam in 1894. 



Family ANATIDAE 



DENDROCYGNA AUTUMNALIS AUTUMNALIS (Linnaeus) : Black-bellied Tree Duck 



Anas autumnalis Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 127 (America). 

 Carriker was told that this tree duck comes to the cornfields around 

 Tres Zapotes in large numbers late in May and early in June to feed 

 at night after the crops have been cleared and the ground burned for 

 the June planting. The natives trap many at these sites. Carriker 

 purchased one bird on May 2 which had been kept in captivity. I saw 

 two downy young in bad state of plumage in the hands of native boys 

 here early in April 1939. 



CAIRINA MOSCHATA (Linnaeus) 



Anas moschata Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 124 (Brazil). 



On April 3, 1939, three flushed from a low tree in the lagoon adjacent 

 to the village. Carriker secured the female of a pair on the arroyo at 

 Hueyapa April 2, 1940. The bird seems rare in this vicinity. 



QUERQUEDULA DISCORS (Linnaeus) : Blue-winged Teal 



Anas discors Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 205 (South 

 Carolina). 



Five of these teals were seen at Laguna del Tular on March 17, 1939. 

 On April 2, soon after sunrise, two men rode into camp asking if we 

 cared to buy canates (the name applied here to wild ducks of all spe- 

 cies). They carried about 25 blue- winged teals in a woven bag, the 

 birds having been partly skinned and partly plucked, eviscerated but 

 otherwise complete. They had been boiled, probably so that they 

 would not spoil, and were offered at the rate of two for 25 centavos. 

 I was told that these ducks had been killed in the extensive lagoons 

 near Boca San Miguel. 



On April 11 I saw a flock of 12 blue- winged teals and another of 

 25 in the lagoon near the village, and on April 13 recorded a male in a 

 small lagoon near the Arroyo Tepanaguasapan. On April 16 a dozen 

 rested on the shore of the Rio Papaloapan near Alvarado. In 1940 

 Carriker examined two killed on March 21. 



