AFRICAN BLACK DUCK 
121 
August (at about three months old) the buff spots on upper side begin to change to white. At the 
end of September the birds had begun to moult, and a month later adult plumage was complete. 
Young in Down; Differs from the young of the Mallard as follows (Blaauw, 1917) : upper side and 
band around breast, which does not quite meet in front, black. Five or six yellow spots on each side 
of the body. Sides of the head yellow, with a black line through the eye, and a second one a little 
lower down. Under side white, slightly tinged with yellow. Bill black; legs and toes pale dusky 
yellow in front, webs and hind part of legs dusky. 
The specimens I have seen are very dark above and buff color below. There is a great deal of dark 
pattern below the eye, consisting of two ill-defined face-stripes, one running through the eye and 
one from culmen to aural region. There are two fight spots above the eye, one in front of it and one 
behind it. The wing, scapular, side and rump spots are the same as in many other ducks. 
DISTRIBUTION 
Abyssinia 
The African Black Duck is found over essentially the same range as the Yellow-billed Duck {Anas 
uniulata) but it is much more rare and more confined to streams and hill coimtry. It is found at 
various times of the year throughout its range but there is some indication that at least some of the 
birds leave the northern and southern extremities of the range and draw nearer the equator when the 
weather grows colder. The northernmost limit of its occurrence is Abyssinia where it is found in the 
north about Lake Tana, and where it breeds (von Heuglin, 1873). Salvadori (1884, 1888) has re- 
corded it from Sululta and from Galla Galan (Shoa) and this region seems to be its chief habitat in 
the north. According to Ogilvie-Grant (1900) it is to be met with almost exclusively 
on the high plateaux of central Abyssinia, but other writers speak of it as more com- 
mon in the southern districts. Thus both Salvadori (1912) and von Erlanger (1905) record it from 
the Arussi-Gallaland region as occurring on the mountain streams at altitudes of 2000 meters and 
even 2600 meters. Von Erlanger (1905) in fact states that he met with it only at altitudes of 2600 
meters and above, and that it was common there. He has also reported it from Tumadu in the 
Niam-Niam region. According to Ogilvie-Grant and Reid (1901) it has been found also near 
Myeesa, southern Abyssinia. There is no indication of its occurring in the low country of eastern 
Abyssinia or in Somaliland, nor does it appear to range westward to the Nile in this latitude. 
I have been unable to find many records of its occurrence in British East Africa beyond Hinde’s 
(1900) remark that the speeies may be regularly seen in Masailand from October to January, and 
R. B. Sharpe’s note (1900) of a pair taken on Lake Hohnel, west slope of Mt. Kenia at an altitude of 
13,000 feet in September, 1899. Unquestionably it inhabits the smaller lakes and East 
rivers of the Province (V. van Someren, 1922). It has been reported from the Buddu, Africa 
Toro and Ruwenzori regions of Uganda, where it has been met with at altitudes up to 12,000 
feet and it breeds in the Mubuku Valley district (V. van Someren, 1916; Ogilvie-Grant, 1910). In 
former German East Africa it was taken at Kibonota on Kilimandjaro at 1400 meters (Sjostedt, 
1910) and Stierling (Reichenow, 1898) found it at Iringa. How far west it may extend beyond the 
lakes I am unable to say. Mr. J. P. Chapin {in litt.) states that he took specimens but foimd the 
species rare on the Ituri River, northeastern Congo Free State and the fact that specimens have 
been taken in the Cameroon (February, 1908) at Bamenda and at another locality 
200 miles inland (Reichenow, 1910, 1911) indicates the possibility of its extending 
west through the entire Congo basin. Even in localities where regularly found the birds are so rare 
and shy that they may well have been overlooked by the few explorers who have been through 
central Africa. But at any rate this duck must be very rare indeed west of the lakes and north of 
the Zambesi. 
In Rhodesia the species has been taken near Victoria (Sclater, fide Stark and Sclater, 1906) and 
