126 
ANAS SPARSA 
A few days before the eggs hatched the male moulted his flight feathers and from 
that moment kept to himself, rejoining the female and her foster children only after 
the moult was completed. The birds dived and took food from the bottom of the 
water. An excellent plate showing the young feeding is annexed to Mr. Blaauw’s 
article. 
I saw a fine stock of these ducks at Mr. Blaauw’s place in 1922, nearly all the 
increase from the original pair. They have been successfully kept in London for a 
number of years and a pair or two recently reached this country. 
GEOGRAPHICAL RACES 
There is a diflFerence in the color of the bill between South African and East African examples, and 
this has resulted in the separation of a northern race. In the small series available for comparison 
this race appears to be valid. Two males and a female collected by J. P. Chapin in the Ituri Forest 
of the upper Congo have the bills “pinkish gray or brownish pink” according to a letter from 
Mr. Chapin, and presumably these belong to the same race as those from East Africa. 
AiVAS SPARSA SPARSA Eyton 
Characters: Bill dark lead-blue with black saddle-mark and black nail, and a small yellow area 
at the base of culmen. 
Range: South Africa; northern limits not defined. 
ANAS SPARSA LEUCOSTIGMA Ruppell 
Anas leucostigma Riipjjell, Systematische TJebersicht d. Vogel Nord-Ost-.Afrikas, pp. 130, 138, 
pi. 48, 1845. 
Characters: Bill yellow with black saddle-mark. Congo Forest sjDecimens said to have the bills 
“pinkish gray” or “brownish pink” (Chapin, in litt.). 
Range: East and northeast Africa, across to the upjDer Congo and the Cameroun; rare in the western 
parts of its range. 
