~ 
5d 
[§ 
L§ 
LS 
b) ANAS ACUTA. 
likely been carried off by a dog, or some passenger, but we were able to rear 
most of the young, as we had done in other years. She was the mother of the 
male, which, mated with a farmyard duck, produced the hybrids that were 
the parents of the two drakes figured in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological 
Society ’ for 1860, Aves, plate clxviii.] 
5587. Two.—Hesselé, 8 June, 1861. From HH. Erichsen, 
Fischer, and Theobald. 
Pastor Theobald in sending me these eggs wrote that they were taken as 
above by Herr Erichsen, from a nest containing ten, and that the female was 
shot as she left it. | 
5588. Zwo—Rupert’s House, Hudson’s Bay Territory, 
18 June, 1860. From the Smithsonian Institution, 
through Professor Baird, 1869. 
The ticket has also “ Parent seen. C. Drexler.’ The Smithsonian number 
is 4344. | 
5589. Zwo.—Fort Yukon, June, !861. From the Smith- 
sonian Institution, through Professor Baird, 1863. 
The Smithsonian number is 6595. Prof. Baird’s note adds “ R. Kennicott. 
Parent seen” (ef. § 5743). | 
5590. Three.-—East of Anderson River, 1863. From the 
Smithsonian Institution, through Professor Baird, 
1866. 
The ticket states that these were out of a nest of eight, from which the 
female was shot by an Esquimaux. They were from Mr. MacFarlane’s spoils, 
and he wrote of the species (Proc. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. xiv. p. 420) that it 
and the Long-tailed Duck are the most numerous of those that annually 
resort to the Anderson River and the Arctic coast, and are also among the 
first to arrive in spring. They were always abundant on the Barren Grounds. 
Ile adds :—“ Both species desert their nests almost immediately after the 
young are hatched and take to the water with them. From frequent ob- 
servations I feel convinced that they almost invariably select land-locked 
sheets of water for the purpose of rearing their young, while most of the other 
species of ducks give their preference to running streams.” The Smithsonian 
number is 9518. | 
