384 Bigelow, Hybrids between Mallard and other Ducks. [net* 



dark belly; (3) color of median region of back and tail. One 

 character, the reddish markings of the lower tail coverts, appears 

 for the first time in the hybrid. 



2. Mallard (Anas boschas) X Black Duck (Anas obscura). 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, No. 35638. Greene-Smith 



coll., No. 631, CT; Long Island, N. Y. This is a mounted speci- 

 men, and has no date. 



Crown, from bill over top of the head, dark brown, the feathers 

 edged with yellowish brown. Sides of head and foreneck brownish 

 yellow, or buffy, with dusky spots, exactly as in obscura. A well 

 marked postocular stripe on either side is 'Mallard green' ; these 

 stripes, however, do not meet at the back of the head; and are 

 somewhat broken by brown feathers. There is a white collar, 

 but it is interrupted both in front and behind. The general ground 

 color of the breast, for a band about 3.6 in. broad, is chestnut, 

 rather darker than in most Mallards. The belly is brownish 

 yellow — considerably darker than in the Mallard parent. 



On the breast, as in the foregoing specimen, the feathers are 

 marked with dark brown semilunar patches. More posteriorly 

 these markings become less numerous; and at the level of the legs 

 they disappear. The under tail coverts are streaked with black 

 and rufous exactly as in the specimen already described. Unlike 

 the latter, however, the flanks in the present specimen show no 

 trace of vermiculations. The middle region of the back is typical 

 obscura; the rump, however, very dark with a greenish gloss. 

 The wings in general, and particularly speculum, scapulars and 

 tertials, show the characteristic Mallard coloration, while the tail 

 is dusky, as in obscura. The three middle coverts are curly. Legs 

 and feet are brownish yellow. 



This specimen is strikingly similar to the one already described, 

 showing nearly the same Mallard and Black Duck characters, as 

 well as the same new "hybrid" character. 



3. Mallard (Anas boschas) X Pintail (Dafila acuta). 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, No. 40026, cT- Shot on Curri- 

 tuck Sound, N. C, Feb. 1904, by Dr. John Bryant. 



The bill in this specimen is very interesting. In color it is dark 

 plumbeous, the nail, a stripe along the top of the culmen, and a 

 triangular patch on either side of the mouth being black. This 



