1 88 Brewster, An U7idescribed Form of Black Duck. LApr. 



head and neck they are quite typical of that form. The original 

 coloring of the soft parts is not noted on any of the labels, but that 

 of the legs in the three specimens which still possess these 

 appendages was apparently bright red. As would be expected, 

 the light edging on the feathers of the pileum is much narrower 

 and less conspicuous than in birds in fresh winter plumage. 



From this evidence it seems reasonably safe to assume that the 

 breeding range of true ohscura extends, coastwise, to the north and 

 east at least as far as Newfoundland and Southern Labrador and 

 that throughout this maritime belt, as well as in New England and 

 to the southward, rubripes occurs only during migration or in 

 winter. The summer distribution of the latter remains to be 

 definitely ascertained, but besides occupying the shores of Hud- 

 son Bay and those of northern Labrador it probably frequents 

 more or less of the vast interior region lying between the points 

 just mentioned and the St. Lawrence River. The frequency of 

 its occurrence in late autumn at Lake Umbagog indicates that a 

 good many of the birds which breed about Hudson Bay or to the 

 southward take the shortest possible route to their winter quarters 

 on the coast of New England. Others, no doubt, move directly 

 southward for there is a typical red-legged bird in the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology which was taken in Mississippi County, 

 Arkansas, on Nov. 5, 1887.^ Those which pass their summers in 

 northern Labrador probably follow the Atlantic coast line during 

 migration for Mr. Batchelder has a specimen of rubripes which 

 was shot at Custlett, Newfoundland, on November 6, 1890. 



It is interesting to note that in respect to one of the more es- 

 sential of its distinguishing characters — viz., the immaculate buffy 

 throat — the more southern of the forms just considered shows a 

 slight but significant approach to the Black Duck of Florida {Anas 

 fiilviguld) which has not only the entire throat, but also the jugu- 

 lum and the greater part of the cheeks, entirely free from mark- 

 ings. 



' It is probable that a large proportion of the birds which occur in autumn 

 or winter in the Mississippi Valley and about the Great Lakes belong to the form 

 rubripes but the only Black Duck of any kind that I have seen from this 

 region is the one above mentioned. 



