192 OBERHOLSER, Notes on North American Birds. fen 
Dendrocygna viduata (Linnzus). 
A specimen of this South American duck was killed on the 
Hackensack Meadows in New Jersey in October, 1912, and sub- 
sequently recorded by Dr. George B. Grinnell.!_ While there seems 
to be no doubt of the proper identification of the specimen, its 
presence in New Jersey, so far beyond the limits of its normal home 
in South America and the West Indies, together with the fact that 
it is a common species in zoélogical gardens, strongly indicate that 
it probably escaped from captivity rather than that it wandered 
so far out of its normal range. In view of this fact it seems unde- 
sirable to include it in the list of North American birds without 
further and more positive evidence of its entirely natural occur- 
rence within our limits. 
Anas rubripes tristis Brewster. 
This poor duck has indeed had an unfortunate history, but it 
is sincerely to be hoped that brighter days are in store. The name 
Anas rubripes tristis was proposed by Mr. William Brewster? as a 
substitute for Anas obscura Gmelin, which is preoccupied by Anas 
obscura Pontoppidan for a species of the Old World. Previously 
Mr. Brewster had separated the red-legged form of this species as a 
distinct race and named it Anas obscura rubripes, taking as his 
type an autumn specimen from Lake Umbagog, New Hampshire. 
That there are two well-marked forms of this species, one of 
them with bright red legs, the other with legs of an olivaceous 
brown, or at most only slightly reddish color, is apparently admitted 
by all. Whether these forms are really distinct subspecies or merely 
individual or other variants is of course the point at issue. Mr. 
Brewster has consistently claimed the subspecific distinctness of 
the two forms, but from this view some other ornithologists have 
dissented. Subsequently, however, Dr. Charles W. Townsend‘ 
1 Auk, XXX, January, 1913, p. 110. 
2 Auk, XX VI, April, 1909, p. 176. 
3 Auk, XIX, April, 1902, p. 184. 
4 Auk, XXIX, April, 1912, pp. 176-179. 
