74 
ANAS RUBRIPES 
freeze, I found that three-fourths of these ducks were males, the females having probably gone along 
before. 
We obtain other evidence of the western-bred Black Ducks from various specimens shot in Ala- 
bama and Arkansas, North Dakota and other western points, which seem to be mostly of the rubripes 
type. It also seems to me that these “ Red-legs ” go farther south in winter than the eastern “ Green- 
legs,” although of course over the greater part of the winter range both forms mingle together. There 
is a good deal of evidence that the “Red-leg” form has been growing more plentiful in the southern 
States. But we need especially to know whether any typical “ Red-legs” ever reach points like Anti- 
costi and the Magdalen Islands, and whether any typical “ Green-legs ” breed in the Lake Superior 
and James Bay regions. 
Being a hardy species some winter as far north as the St. Lawrence, or at least they leave there 
very late. They have been seen as late as November 14 at Montreal and as late as December 8 at 
Prince Edward Island (Cooke, 1906). They are said to remain occasionally on Anticosti in winter 
(Schmitt, 1904) and many winter in Nova Scotia and Maine, wherever salt-marshes are found. 
Local-bred ducks may be induced to remain imtil frozen out if properly baited; that is, one can delay 
their departure several months. 
The spring flight is very different from that of the Mallard, for the Black Duck swarms up the 
coast, and into all the flooded valleys as soon as the ice breaks. They arrive in central New England 
just as early as weather permits, from early March to April, and they reach Maine about April 7, 
Montreal, April 14, Quebec, April 18 and Prince Edward Island, April 23. Meanwhile those ducks 
that have remained all winter with us on the coast, and are presumably drawn chiefly from the 
Northwest, do not appear to change much in numbers, but break up and depart a long time after 
migrants from the South have scattered all over the country. Of course it must be borne in mind that 
the species is practically confined to the coast in winter. 
Sporadic Records: There have been many sporadic records for Black Ducks in the West, chiefly 
from Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, which are probably to be referred to the New Mexican Duck, 
Anas diazi nonmexicana, or possibly to the Florida Duck, Anas fulvigula. There is one undoubted 
specimen for California, but Dr. Joseph Grinnell informed me that there is a possibility that this 
may have been an escaped bird. At any rate the Black Duck is said to occur occasionally on passage 
in Kansas (Bunker, 1913; H. Harris, 1919), in Nebraska (Swenk, 1905), in Missouri (Widmann, 
1907) and in Iowa (R. M. Anderson, 1907). A number have been shot near Tulsa, Oklahoma, since 
1918 (T. J. Hartman, in litt.). The specimens which I have examined from mid-western States (Indi- 
ana) and from Wisconsin, as well as the one reported by Oberholser (1918) from North Dakota, are 
typical of the Red-legged race. Mr. L. C. Pettibone of Dawson, Kidder Coimty, reported a real 
flight there in 1914. There are also records of Black Ducks from the Valle de Mexico (Villada, 
1891-92) and the west coast (Sanchez, 1877-78). These undoubtedly refer either to the Mexiean 
or to the Florida Duck. 
GENERAL HABITS 
Haunts. The Dusky or Black Duck is not at all particular about the nature of 
the country it inhabits, but it likes to stay somewhere near the coast, even in the 
breeding season. Throughout New England it is found in summer in much the same 
country as the Carolina Duck, on slow-moving brooks, the marshes of our sluggish 
rivers, and old mill-ponds. Brewster (1884) thought that on the Magdalens, Anti- 
costi and the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they bred a short distance only 
from the coast. They have great gathering-places in the late summer, such as the 
