66 bulij<:tin 126, unfixed states nationai. museum. 



red; webs, as well as under surface of toes and posterior portion of 

 tarsus, blackish." The form rubripes is supposed to have a yellow 

 bill. We have specimens of the old form, tristis, from southern and 

 northern Labrador, Okak, and from Newfoundland ; and I doubt if 

 Mr. Brewster felt confident that all of the birds from the Hudson 

 Bay localities, mentioned above, were rubripes. On the other hand 

 we have some evidence to indicate that red-leggod birds breed farther 

 south. Dr. Jonathan Dwight (1909) had " a number of freshly killed 

 birds" sent to him from Long Island, New York, ''that scarcely 

 needed dissection to prove them to bo breeding birds. They were 

 shot at various dates in April and all had red legs." Moreover, an 

 adult male, killed on Long Island June 11, 1909, came fresh into his 

 hands, which had the red legs and other characters supposed to belong 

 to the northern race; it was "in full postnuptial molt, and evidently 

 was recently mated." The only summer specimen I ever shot on 

 Cape Cod had red legs. Mr. Horace W.Wright (1911) says of the 

 birds seen by him, which were probably breeding near Jefferson, New 

 Hampshire : 



Most of those birds which have been seen on the ponds in the summer, near enou|:h 

 to distinguish whether they were of the type rubripes or rubripes tristis, have been of 

 the latter type. Perhaps only two have been distinctly seen which were of the for- 

 mer type, namely, on July 30, 1908. These took wing so near to \is on our approach 

 that the red legs were clearly seen. 



Mr. Edwin Beaupre writes to me from Kingston, Ontario, as follows : 



Owing to the great number of black ducks in this vicinity this season (1920) the 

 time was considered opportune for looking into the question of the subspecies. 

 Between September 1 and November 4, 1920, 20 specimens were available for deter- 

 mination; of these five had red legs and were much larger than the brown-legged 

 birds. The presence of these red-legged ducks in tliis locality September 1 is a 

 reasonable indication of their having bred here. 



Mr. P. A. Ta vomer has recently sent me some colored drawings 

 of the bills and feet of black ducks, from which it appears that the 

 breeding ducks of the Ottawa River region and of the Gaspe region 

 are red-legged; also that what are evidently young birds show, at 

 least a tendency toward red-legs. 



It will be seen from the above remarks that the known facts regard- 

 ing the distribution of the two forms are not conclusive either one 

 way or the other, so we must turn to what little other evidence we 

 have. Doctor Dwight (1909) says that the differences betv/een the 

 two forms — 



are exactly the ones that distinguish old birds from young whether they occur in the 

 United States or Canada. My evidence on this point is conclusive for I have skinned 

 and dissected fully 50 specimens representing many localities, nortli and south, 

 besides examining dozens of others shot by friends or found hanging in the markets. 



We must admit that Doctor Dwight is an experienced expert in 

 such matters and that his opinion ought to carry weight. Doctor 



