£876.] NEOTROPICAL ANATIDJi. 387 



pygio paululum obscuriore ; pectoris guttis magis distinctis et 

 fere totum ventrem occupantibus ; necnon alls et tarsis breviori- 

 bus distinguenda : long, tota 15*0, aloe. 7'4, caudoe 3*5, rostri a 

 rictu 1*65, tarsi 1*2. 



Hab. Buenos Ayres {Azara, Hudson); Mendoza (Burm.); Straits 

 of Magellan (Darwin) ; Falkland's (Abbott) ; Chili (Philippi $* 

 Landb). 



This Duck was first obtained by Azara in Buenos Ayres ; and his 

 name for it was not very correctly latinized by Vieillot. We have speci- 

 mens from the same neighbourhood, obtained by Mr. W. H. Hudson. 

 It seems to be distributed thence all over Antarctic America. Accord- 

 ing to Burmeister it is not unfrequently seen near Mendoza, in the 

 lagoon of Rodeo del Medio. Philippi and Landbeck state that it is 

 common in Chili, and southwards on the western coast to the Straits 

 of Magellan. In the last-mentioned locality Mr. Darwin also obtained 

 specimens. 



In the Falkland Islands this species is more plentiful in the in- 

 terior than in the neighbourhood of civilisation, and is found in large 

 flocks in some of the freshwater streams. It lays in September, and 

 even as early as August • and the nest, with its complement of five 

 eggs, placed in the dry grass in some retired unfrequented valley, 

 is very difficult to find. As a rule, the bird is very tame. 



6. QuERQTJEDSJLA ANDIUM. (Plate XXXIV.) 



Dafila , sp.?, Scl. P. Z S. 1860, p. 83 (Ecuador). 



Querquedula andium, Scl. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 162, et 

 P. Z.S. 1875, p. 237. 



Capita widique nigro et albo frequent issime marmorato ; dor so 

 obscure cinereo, scapular ibus ceneo-nigris fusco circumcinctis ; 

 ■speculo atari ceneo-nigro in secundariis dorso proximis nitidis- 

 sinte ceneo-viridi, supra et subtus fascia pallide castanea mar- 

 ginato ; abdomine albo cineraceo adumbrato ; pectore maculis 

 plumarum centralibus fusco-nigris ; rostro nigro, pedibus car- 

 neis : long, tota 160, alee 9'0, caudce rigidiusculce 3*5. 

 Hab. High Ecuador, between Riobamba and Mocha (Fraser) ; 

 Sierra Nevada of Merida (Goering). 



Obs. Similis Q. oxypterce et Q.flavirostri, sed notaeo obscuriore, 

 rostro nigro, et speculo alari eeneo neque viridi distinguenda. 



Mr. Fraser obtained a single specimen of this Duck on the high 

 plateau of Riobamba in 1859 ; but Sclater did not succeed in making 

 out the species. Subsequently Salvin selected two examples of the 

 same bird from a collection sent to this country from Quito ; and we 

 were thus enabled to describe it for the first time in our ' Nomen- 

 clator.' 



Last year we had again the pleasure of recognizing an example of 

 this species in Mr. Goering' s last collection from the Sierra Nevada 

 of Merida, where it was obtained at an altitude of 10,000 feet. 



It would appear, therefore, that this Duck replaces the two pre- 

 ceding species in the Andes of Ecuador and Venezuela. We have 

 not yet seen it from Columbia; but no doubt it occurs there also* 



25* 



