264 SENNETT oz a New Species of Duck from Texas. [July 
Similar to the male excepting that there is no black spot on the bill at 
the base of the upper mandible. Wing, 10.00; culmen, 1.90; tarsus 
1.60; middle toe and claw, 1.45 inches. 
Young, half fledged. Type in my collection, No. 5188, taken by John 
M. Priour, July 8, 1887, at Nuesces River, near Corpus Christi, Texas. 
Top of head mixed brown and white; forehead, cheeks, chin, and throat 
white, anteriorly tinged with pale buff. Back brown; scapulars, breast 
and under tail-coverts black and reddish buff; belly blackish brown and 
pale buff. 
I remember seeing in 1852 several pairs of this Duck on the 
wing when I was collecting about the extensive grass flats of Cor- 
pus Christi Bay near Padre Island. I then felt sure that it was 
unlike the Black Duck (Azas obscura) so common in the Nor- 
thern States, but neglected to procure specimens. Of course I 
was delighted when, this season, I obtained a pair of these Ducks, 
adults, in breeding plumage, which, with the half-fledged young 
taken nearly two years ago, determine a new form of the genus 
breeding in southern Texas. 
The new Ducks come nearer to Anas fulvigula than to Anas 
obscura, and after comparing them with some fine examples of 
fulvigula in the American Museum (collected by Mr. Chapman 
this spring in Florida), I sent the Texas birds to Mr. Ridgway 
_that he might decide how near they came to Anas diazi of Mex- 
ico, which he described in 1886. Mr. Ridgway’s opinion is so 
appropriate to the introduction of the new bird that I quote from 
his letter as follows: ‘‘Unfortunately [am not able to compare 
your Texan Black Ducks with a specimen of Azas d7azz, the 
only known specimens of the latter having been taken to Mexico 
with the rest of the Mexican Collection. I had a photograph 
taken of the type, with which your birds have been compared, 
and have also compared them with the detailed description in 
Proc. Nat. Mus., Vol. IX, pp. 171-173, and cannot make them 
out to be the same. Your birds have larger bills and feet, the 
former with a black spot at lower basal angle, in males, as in 
A. fulvigula, and without the darker culmen; top of head more 
broadly streaked with buff, and buff markings of back, etc., also 
apparently broader ; white subterminal band across greater wing- 
coverts wanting; tail-feathers differently marked, etc. I think 
the safer plan would be to describe your bird as a new species, more 
nearly allied to A. fulvigula than A. diaz.” 
During. my absence from the American Museum Mr. D. G. 
