PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



Young birds of the year lack the green speculum, it being replaced by 

 grey, and there is no subapical black band ; they are duller than the adult 

 females and the barring and mottling are not so definite. 



No young birds in the down are in the collections. 



Geographical Range. Southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, 

 Chili, Patagonia, Magellan Straits and the Falkland Islands. 



In April, 1898, this duck was not uncommon and a small series was 

 secured, both adults and young of the year of both sexes. These birds 

 were taken at Arroyo Eke and on the Rio Chico, both points not far 

 distant from the eastern coast. The birds were in flocks and showed 

 no signs of breeding at this season. Holland found it breeding in Sep- 

 tember at Estancia Espartilla, where the bird is resident and common. 

 In the vicinity of Buenos Aires the birds are also resident and the Prince- 

 ton University Collections have specimens from that region taken in No- 

 vember. The adults are then in very fine plumage and look as if they had 

 moulted very recently. 



While the birds appear to be resident in the Province of Buenos Aires, 

 Mr. Alpin found them migratory in Uruguay and his account is subjoined. 

 Mr. Barrows found them to be resident at Concepcion del Uruguay, where 

 he thinks but few remain to breed, though it was the commonest and 

 tamest of the ducks found there. He also saw these birds commonly on 

 the Pampas wherever there was water. 



" Did not put in an appearance until April, and I saw it on a few sub- 

 sequent occasions ; once they were with Shovelers, at another time a 

 bunch of five were by themselves, and at another (a sunny autumn after- 

 noon) we stopped our horses to admire a lovely laguna in which the 

 trees, with which the opposite bank was heavily wooded, were clearly 

 reflected, the smooth water being broken only by patches of broad-leaved 

 water-plants and the rippling track of a very tame Grey Teal, while a 

 Cocoi Heron, which had been perched on a dead branch, flapped slowly 

 down the river. Such scenes do not readily fade from the memory." 

 (O. V. Alpin, Birds of Uruguay, Ibis, p. 200, 1894.) 



QUERQUEDULA CYANOPTERA (Vieillot). 



Pato alas azulas, Azara, Apunt. III. p. 437 (1805). 



Anas cyanoptera, Vieill. N. Diet. D'Hist. Nat. V. p. 104 (1816) ; Burm. 



La Plata Reise, II. p. 516 (1861) ; Frenzel, J. f. O. 1891, p. 125 



(Cordoba). 



