Vol 'l9l9 XVI ] Hollister, Ring-necked Duck. 463 



proportions of the bill, between the Canvasback and the Redhead 

 as one could expect to find among distinct species in nature. It 

 would seem to me just as reasonable to associate ferina and valisi- 

 neria together in'a group called Ayihya, with the Redhead excluded, 

 as to put M . amerieana and ferina together, leaving the Canvas- 

 back in a special genus of its own. Considering both color and 

 structural characters, it would be difficult to say which species, 

 the Canvasback or the Redhead, actually represents ferina on the 

 American continent. 



The next edition of the A. O. U. ' Check-List ' will have two addi- 

 tions to this group, the Tufted Duck {Marila fuligula) and the 

 European Pochard (M. ferina); specimens of both these species 

 having been captured on St. Paul Island. 1 It seems to me that the 

 birds should be arranged in this next ' Check-List ' in the following 

 order: Canvasback, European Pochard, Redhead, Ring-necked 

 Duck, Tufted Duck, Lesser Scaup Duck, Greater Scaup Duck. Per- 

 sonally I do not see any way to separate Marila into valid genera, 

 and I think the genus should be left without any subdivision at all ; 

 but if we must recognize intergrading subgenera or must have a 

 distinctive name for every minor superspecific group, I hope that 

 such divisions of Marila as are deemed necessary will not inter- 

 fere with this apparently logical sequence for the species. 



1 Evermann, Auk, Vol. XXX, p. 17. January, 1913. 



