FLORIDA DUSKY DUCK 
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lighter colored all over. The sides of the head are paler, the dark area on the top of the head is more 
restricted, leaving a broad white superciliary stripe on each side, meeting in front to form a white 
forehead. The black streak between bill and eye is absent, or nearly so, and the postorbital stripe 
is narrow and paler colored. The downy tail-feathers are very light gray, instead of nearly black, 
and the two white rump-spots are somewhat more prominent. 
Note: Examination of a very large series has convinced me that the so-called “Mottled Duck” 
of Sennett, Anas fulvigula maculosa, can no longer be considered a valid race. Specimens from the 
Vermilion Bay region of Louisiana are much darker and of a richer chestnut color, but this is without 
doubt due to stain. The cheeks of Texan birds are not differently streaked, and the greenish specu- 
lum of Florida birds is found only occasionally. The mottled appearance of the breast is character- 
istic of old, full-plumaged males, wherever the species occurs (see Phillips, 1912a). 
DISTRIBUTION 
The Southern Black Duck is a local, semi-tropical species confined to the peninsula of Florida, and 
the Gulf Coast of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Its status is somewhat 
uncertain, because it is so frequently confounded with the Northern Black Duck (Anas rubripes) 
which also occurs in Florida and on the Gulf Coast. Either one or the other of these species may be 
found in Cuba (Cabanis, 1857; Cory, 1889) and in Jamaica (Cory, 1889; March, 1864; Gosse, 1847) 
but the tendency at present seems to be to reckon all the West Indian specimens as examples of the 
true Black Duck. According to Cooke (1906) the present species breeds in southern 
Florida and less commonly also in the northern part. He furthermore states that it 
seems to be absent from the northeastern sections though it is found in the northwestern parts of the 
State. The northernmost record seems to be Micanopy, in the interior, latitude 29° 30' north 
(U.S. Biological Survey) though F. M. Chapman (1888) did not find it in that vicinity at Gainesville. 
Cory (1890) has recorded it from Banana River and the British Museum has specimens from Lake 
Hiehpoochee. One or two are shot nearly every winter at the Canaveral Club, near Titusville. 
The species is said to extend south only to Eden on the east coast, latitude 27° 20' north, but Mr. 
F. H. Kennard {in litl.) speaks of it as common south of Lake Okeechobee, and Dr. Thomas Barbour 
informs me that he saw one pair at Royal Palm State Park, twelve miles southwest of Homestead, 
and only a short distance from Cape Sable. Even at Cape Sable it has been found nesting in June 
(A. H. Howell, U.S. Biological Survey notes). During his many journeys through the Florida Keys 
Dr. Barbour says he never saw a single specimen. 
According to the U.S. Biological Survey the southern limit of its ordinary range on the west coast 
of Florida is Fort Myers, latitude 26° 40', and Scott (1892) speaks of it as common at Lake Flirt in 
the same Caloosahatchie region. Baird, Brewer and Ridgway (1884) have recorded it from Sarasota 
and it is common at Old Tampa Bay (Scott, 1892). On the west coast it extends north to Tarpon 
Springs, where it is not common (Scott, 1892). There is one record for western Florida, at Whitfield 
(U.S. Biological Survey). Brewster and F. M. Chapman (1891) have reported it questionably from 
the Suwanee River. On the whole the species seems to be most common on the east coast, and it is 
generally supposed that most of them breed in the interior where they are less likely to be disturbed 
(U.S. Biological Survey). Mr. Griscom of the American Museum informs me that local breed- 
ing ducks, almost certainly of this species, are common at St. Marks, northwestern Florida. The 
species has not been recorded from the coasts of Alabama or Mississippi but it undoubtedly occurs 
there. 
Specimens that have been recorded under this name from Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, etc., 
are probably to be referred to the New Mexican Duck (Anas diazi novimexicana) recently described 
by Huber (1920). 
