﻿VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 439 



absence of white the bird looks like a fully adult bii-d above. The 

 breast and abdomen, however, instead of being dark brown, deep 

 sepia to dark clove brown, or fuscous, as in other examples, are pale 

 buffy white heavily and abundantly flecked with clove brown. This 

 appearance is caused by the fact that each feather is broadly tipped 

 with, and also crossed about one-third of its length from the tip 

 by, a band of pale buffy white, the rest of the feather being dull clove 

 brown. The sides and flanks are dark fuscous, and some of their 

 feathers have whitish terminal fringes. Apparently we have here 

 a Juvenal plumage but one not altogether closely approximating the 

 brief description given by Phillips (Natural history of the ducks, vol. 1, 

 1922, p. 58), who merely writes that immature birds are less glossy 

 on the back (not true in the present one) and have the upper wing 

 coverts without white or with only a few white feathers. He says 

 nothing about the underparts. 



This magnificent duck was rare in the area; it apparently prefers 

 small wooded ponds and swamps to the ponds on the open savanna, 

 although it was recorded there also. It was encountered during 

 March, April, July, and August. 



Local name, "pato real," royal duck. 



ANAS DISCORS Linnaeus 



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

 America = Virginia or Carolina). 



SPECIMEN COLLECTED 



1 ?, Cantaura, October 5, 1947; gonads small; iris dark brown; gizzard con- 

 tained coarse sand. 



Savanna ponds form the preferred habitat of this bird, although 

 it was also recorded on the Guarapiche River in the heavy woods of the 

 lowland seasonal forest. With the single exception of Dendrocygna 

 autumnalis discolor this species was, in season, the commonest duck of 

 the study area. Although generally recorded in flocks of about 10 indi- 

 viduals, a flock of approximately 400 birds was counted on a large 

 savanna pond in March 1949. It was recorded in the area during 

 February, March, Juno, September, October, and November. A 

 June bird, examined in the hand, was in adult male plumage and 

 apparently in good condition. 



OXYURA DOMINICA (Linnaeus) 



Anas dominica Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 201 (South 

 America — Santo Domingo, from Brissonian reference). 



specimen collected 



1 9 , Caicara, July 24, 1948; gonads enlarged; iris brown, bill and feet olive- 

 brown. 



