HAWAIIAN DUCK 
45 
margined with brownish buff and mostly with one or two zigzag bars across. Primaries dark greyish 
brown. The secondaries form a fine speculum of deep metallic purplish blue, which in some speci- 
mens and under certain lights passes into green. This speculum is bordered in front with a velvety- 
black terminal band, preceded by a whitish-grey band, which occasionally is absent or indistinct in a 
few specimens, and this speculum is bordered behind by a velvety -black band, followed by a white 
one. Towards the back the speculum is also terminated by a velvety-black line. White tips are in a 
few specimens indicated or even distinctly developed on the coverts forming a black border in front 
of the speculum. Rectrices blackish brown, bordered and barred with irregular lines of brownish 
buff. Under parts buffy brown, darker on the breast, spotted with blackish brown, and more so 
along the sides of the body and on the breast. Chin mostly quite unspotted and more reddish. 
Under wing-coverts white, sometimes those near the margin dark brown with pale borders, a vari- 
ability which, like some others, I cannot account for. Axillaries white, in two specimens, one 
from Oahu and one from Hawaii, wdth a few dark brown spots. A very young bird from 
Kauai, marked female, has the under wing-coverts almost unspotted white, the rectrices with a 
few pale bars only on the outer ones, besides being bordered all round with pale brown. 
“The females vary very much. Some few have a distinctly indicated pale superciliary line; some 
have the spots on the lower parts much less bold than others, and I take them to be younger indi- 
viduals, as the already-mentioned very young bird (with the wing-feathers only half grown) has 
them also less bold. Some variations in the gloss of the speculum, the borders of the latter, and the 
colour of the under w^ing-coverts are mentioned above ” (Rothschild, 1900). 
Wing 216-228.6 mm.; tail 76-83.5; culmen 41-45.5; tarsus 38. 
Young in Dow^n: Almost exactly like the young in down of the Mallard, but the olive tint is ap- 
parently more variable and generally less intense (Rothschild, 1900). The specimens which I saw at 
Tring looked to me exactly like young Mallards but of course they were slightly smaller. 
DISTRIBUTION 
The present species is confined to the Haw’aiian group, and is or rather w'as found on all the islands 
(Dole, 1879; P. L. Sclater, 1880; S. B. Wilson and Evans, 1890-99; Henshaw, 1902; R. C. L. Perkins, 
1903; Bryan, 1915). It used to be common but is now diminishing w'herever the Hawaiian 
mongoose has been introduced (Henshaw, 1902; R. C. L. Perkins, 1903; Bryan, 1915). Islands 
R. C. L. Perkins (1903) states that it is still common on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii, 
but that he did not meet with it on Lanai. It frequents the ponds on the coast, but is most abundant 
on the mountain streams, being found at altitudes up to 8000 feet. According to Bryan (1915) it 
had become in 1915, very rare everywhere excepting on Kauai, and in grave danger of extinction. 
He says that in the open season the Shoveller or the Pintail are more likely to be met 
with. 
One specimen, described by Ridgway as Anas aberti, was taken at Mazatlan, Mexico. 
Dlscussion: The Haw^aiian Duck is very interesting, because it shows direct Mallard affinities, and 
is the only other species except the Laysan Teal {Anas laysanensis) and the recently described New 
Mexican Duck that normally carries the Mallard sex-feathers in the tail. Its individual variation is 
all the more curious, when found in a group as stable as the Anatidae. 
Anas U'yvilliana was first described by P. L. Sclater (1878) but there was nothing to show to which 
sex the specimens belonged, except the mark of the collector, w’ho recorded them as males. In the 
Voyage of the Challengee (Birds, Plate 22) P. L. Sclater (1880a) figures one of these males, which is 
apparently in juvenile plumage or perhaps in summer moult. 
In 1888, Stejneger (1888) called attention to the defects in the original description and in the plate. 
