8 R. W. SHUFELDT, 
PORT, there is the square patch and a narrow connecting line. Pos- 
sibly the variations in this marking is indicative of sex — the adult 
males being without the connecting line; and possibly, too, it may 
be a year or more — perhaps several years — before the final outeome 
is completed, and a small, white “chevron” is the result, which may 
be present in both sexes. 
In the case of Dendrocygna guttulata (No. 200815), the markings 
on the “flank feathers” vary. In some, nearest the median line, 
each feather has three large, white spots bordered with blackish, 
the three occupying nearly the entire area and are in close contact 
with each other. The longer and larger feathers nearer the back 
are practically black, with the three irregular white spots on them 
separated by considerable intervals.. The feathers between these 
and those first described show all manner of variations of the two 
patterns, as is also the case as we proceed forwards toward the 
breast, where the feathers gradually become browner and lighter, 
with spots smaller and smaller, to finally become mere gray, emarginated 
dots on the little feathers of the “collar” around the smallest part 
of the neck. With the plumage in its normal condition, all these 
feathers — from neck to flanks — appear as though they were 
but single-spotted, and they have been so represented in published 
plates of this species. (Cat. Brit. Mus. Vol. 27, tab.1; see also 
SaLvADorrs description in the same volume, p. 164.) 
It would appear that Dendrocygna discolor is a good species, 
particularly if the plumage differences are always constant, as 
exhibited on the part of the two typical specimens I have compared, 
namely D. autumnalis, &, 112428, and D. discolor, $, 121111. (See 
above list.) 
Superficially, the small species Dendrocygna javanica resembles 
most D. bicolor; but it lacks the fine, streaked, black-and-white 
minute feathers of the “collar” of the neck found in the latter. 
To a considerable extent, this is likewise true of D. arcuata. It is 
only in D. viduata and D. autumnalis that the entire abdominal area 
and lower breast is of an intense, shiny, black; though in other 
respects the plumages of these two species are widely different, — 
D. viduata« departing the more from the conventional plumage- 
pattern of the genus. Perhaps the furthest removed from the centre 
of the group is the big West Indian form, D. arborea. Dendrocygna 
arborea, however, is no larger than some other species of true ducks; 
