298 Phillips, The American Black Ducks. [f^^. 



Texas and the 20 from Florida. There- is also one Florida Duck 

 in down in the Brewster series. In the original description of 

 A. fnhigula (Ridgway, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. I, p. 251) nothing 

 is said about sex dimorphism, yet this is apparent though perhaps 

 not quite so uniform or so well marked as in A. diazi. Mr. Brew- 

 ster's specimens are especially fine, being mostly birds in fresh 

 plumage. There is a general tendency to a more mottled appear- 

 ance in the males and a more streaked appearance in the females ; 

 the difference being particularly marked over the breast, where 

 the males average very much darker. The different appearance 

 of the under parts is due to a feather pattern similar in general to 

 that found in A. diazi and A. wyvillimia. The typical male breast 

 feather has a V-shaped black pattern tipped with brown, in un- 

 worn specimens, while the female has a more irregular black pattern 

 extending to the tip as a median wedge-shaped area. The sexual 

 difference is probably accentuated with age, and there is no trouble 

 in picking out the adults of either sex at a glance. There is good 

 evidence both here and in A. diazi that the immature feathers are 

 of the female type, the typical male pattern first appearing on the 

 upper chest, and later extending to the abdomen. Except in one 

 case the dry bills of the Brewster series are all dull orange in the 

 female and dark olive in the male. This one exception is a black 

 bill in an undoubted female specimen. There is no tendency in 

 any of the males to sex feathers in the tail. The speculum varies 

 from a brilliant green to a brilliant purple. There is no trace of an 

 anterior white speculum band, but a posterior white one often 

 occurs. The chin color varies from cream white to pale rufous 

 and no specimen shows a rufus chin. The male birds are somewhat 

 darker throughout than are the females. The young in down 

 (one specimen), has a distinctly pale appearance compared with 

 the young of A. tristis. It is brownish in appearance rather than 

 dusky. Bearing these facts in mind and turning now to A. fulvi- 

 gula maculosa we find this Texan and Mexican race separated from 

 the Florida race by Sennett with the following characters. Color 

 of the cheeks more brown than in A.fuhigula (streaked with brown 

 according to Sennett, but I cannot see what is meant by this). 

 It is probable that the Texan birds were thought to have more 

 richly colored chins. The speculum is said to be purple instead 



