1888. 



PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 101 



ceons cinnamon-rufous precisely as in A. aberti. The normal upper 

 white wing- bar is replaced by one of a light gray color, but in addition 

 the greater coverts which form the upper border of the sprculum * 

 are broadly (5-j tipped with pure white, thus interposing a very con- 

 spicuous and abnormal white bar between the speculum and its upper 

 black border. So far as I can make out, this feature is entirely unique t 

 The two black tertiaries following the speculum and forming its inner 

 ; black border, have some large pale cinnamon marks and broad margins 

 at the tip, of a similar color, while in all the other specimens these 

 feathers are uniform. The bill is brownish, with black blotches irregu- 

 larly distributed over the surface. 



Some of the differences noted above are probably due to sex, others 

 to age, and others again to seasou, but with the scanty data as to sex 

 and time 1 abstain from making any suggestions. It is plain, however, 

 that a few of the variations can not be disposed of so easily. As to the 

 reversed position of the black and white in the anterior border of the 

 mirror (Xo. 113450) I may remark, that our museum possesses a number 

 of pale, albinistic specimens, said to have been tame ducks having turned 

 feral and shot on the Lower Potomac, in which a similar reversion of the 

 two colors has taken place. Some of these specimens have only the 

 tips of the greater coverts margined more or less broadly with white ; in 

 others the white margins also run along the edges to the base, while in 

 fathers again these feathers are entirely white. But all these birds are 

 albinistic to a great extent besides, while our Kauai specimen shows no 

 other trace of albinism. As to the curious dark lining of the wing of 

 No. 113449, I have at present no explanation to offer. 



In all the allied species I find a light superciliary line and a dark 

 ransocular stripe more or less pronounced. Xo such pattern is evident 

 n my Hawaiian specimens, the only approach to it being a scarcely 

 perceptible postocular dark line in all, except No. 113449. 



*In the original description of Anas wyvilliana a curious mistake has crept iu, 

 nasraach as it is said that the speculum proper is formed by the greater coverts and 

 ts upper double border by the smaller coverts. The passage in question reads as fol- 

 ;ows: "The speculum is shining purple with a black border above and below; be- 

 onil the black border below the coverts terminate in a broad margin of pure white; 

 ibove the upper black border, which is formed by the ends of the small coverts, there 

 Is a narrow ashy-white margin." Of course, the speculum is formed by the secoud- 

 ries, and the upper border by the ends of the great coverts ! Besides the speculum 

 s only purple in a certain light, viz, when held betweeu the light and the eye (Ga- 

 low's "position C "), while if the eye be placed between the light and the bird 

 " positions B and A"), the speculum is distinctly green, which is also the color repre- 

 ented in the plate. 



tin Mr. Ridgway's account of the female A. wyvilUana (loo. cit.) there is a remark 

 lo the effect that the above described arrangement of the borders is the normal one in 

 inas boschas, hut this is evidently only a slip of the pen. 



