^°S6\?^'"] G<^neral Notes. 451 



species of which there seems to be no previous Arizona record. The date 

 given on the label of this specimen is April 10, 1905. — ■ W. De W. Miller, 

 American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



Status of the Black Duck (Anas ruhripes) in Colorado. — The appel- 

 lative of that form of Black Duck found in Colorado is certainly having its 

 quota of vicissitudes, which inay in part be accounted for by the fact that 

 it is a rare species in our State, only four absolute records having been 

 made to date. It may be well to note here another specimen — a mounted 

 bird (a male) in the Colorado Museum of Natural History, Denver. It 

 was taken by W. N. W. Blayhey at Loveland, Colorado, in 1907. This 

 specimen and one in the writer's collection are the only two known birds 

 available for identification. 



In 'The Birds of Colorado,' by W. W. Cooke, March, 1897, our form 

 of this duck is given as, "Anas obscura. Black Duck. . . .An eastern 

 species finding in Colorado its most western extension." In the first 

 supplement to this volume, March, 1898, the same name is retained. In 

 the second supplement. May, 1900, Mr. Cooke changes the name of our 

 form of this duck and refers it to the more southwestern type in the fol- 

 lowing words: "In place of 133, Anas obscura. Black Duck. Put 134a. 

 Anas fulvigula maculosa. Mottled Duck. Although no specimens of 

 this duck taken in Colorado have been examined by the present writer, 

 yet there can be no doubt that the three specimens reported really belong 

 to this subspecies." 



We wonder why Mr. Cooke felt justified in making such an unqualified 

 statement in view of the fact that this change to Anas fulvigula maculosa 

 was made by him wholly on geographical grounds. It appears also that 

 the original reference of our form to Anas obscura was also made enl rely 

 on geographical grounds. 



In the light of subsequent events we are again reminded of how unsafe 

 it is to refer any bird to any particular form purely on geographical grounds, 

 without a single specimen ever having been identified as belonging to 

 such form, unless it is stated clearly that there is a question as to the form 

 to which it should be referred. When it has been once indubitably es- 

 tablished that a certain form, be it, for example, a certain subspecies, is 

 found in any given locality we of course have the right to consider all the 

 birds of this type reported from this locality as being of this particular 

 subspecies until another subspecies has been discovered. 



Since the appearance of the second supplement to 'The Birds of Colo- 

 rado' it has been assumed by Colorado ornithologists that our form of 

 Black Duck is Anas fulvigula maculosa (Mottled Duck), as is evidenced 

 by recent writings. The present writer never having seen more than the 

 one specimen referred to above as being in his own collection, and not 

 wishing to trust in a final test the obscurities of book descriptions on a 

 female bird of semi-pronounced characters, noted a possible change of 

 name on the specimen's tag from Anas obscura to Ayias fulvigula maculosa 



