130 
ANAS SPECULARIS 
Rio Pilmaiguen, in the Andes south of Valdivia. The species was originally described from a speci- 
men taken by King (1828) in the Straits of Magellan. Since then Schalow (1898) has recorded it 
for Punta Arenas. There is no evidence of its presence on Tierra del Fuego. 
Until recently this duck has not been known to occur east of the Andes, though it is most common 
on the moimtain streams of that range. C. V. Burmeister (1888) first recorded it for the Andean 
region of central Patagonia, without mentioning any specific locality. Since then it has been found 
on Lago General Paz (extreme western Chubut) by Gerling (Dabbene, 1910) and on the Carren- 
le^s-fu River in western Chubut (Lynch Arribalzaga, 1902a). There are several specimens in the 
British Museum from Valle del Lago Blanco in Chubut. The Princeton Expedition to Patagonia 
apparently took no specimens but it is stated in the report (Scott and Sharpe, 1912) that the species 
may be found in central and southern Patagonia from the Rio Negro to the Straits. The La Plata 
Museum is said to have specimens from South Patagonia (Dabbene, 1914; Scott and Sharpe, 1912). 
Mr. Stuart Shipton of Concepcion, Tucuman, commander of H. M. S. Southampton, told Mr. J. 
L. Peters that he was having prepared for his collection five specimens he had shot on the coast of 
Patagonia. It must, however, be a very rare bird east of the Andean watershed lakes, judging by 
the few records and from what is known of its habits. Mr. Dabbene writes me (March, 1920) that 
“large flocks can be seen in the lake regions of southwest Argentina from Lago Nahuel Huapi (west- 
ern Rio Negro Province) toward the south.” The Museum of the University of California possesses 
two specimens taken at Barriloche, Nahuel Huapi, in March, 1912, and Mr. J. L. Peters, collecting 
for me, obtained a pair at Huanuluan on the upper Rio Negro (elevation 3100 feet). He tells me that 
the species was unknown to the natives of that district and that the birds must have been stragglers. 
I suspect that this is a rather local species and one rather closely confined to the lakes and streams 
of the eastern Andes. 
GENERAL HABITS 
Nothing is known of the life-history of this rare bird beyond the fact that it is of 
a rather solitary nature, occurring usually in pairs, on rivers shaded by forests (L, 
Fraser, 1843) and very rarely in open marshy country frequented by other water- 
fowl. I think Dr. Dabbene must have been misinformed in writing me that large 
flocks may be found in the lake regions of southern Argentina (south of Lake 
Nahuel Huapi), though it may be that the birds come out of the woods to the lakes 
at certain seasons. Mr. Peters, who was at Lake Nahuel Huapi in the spring of 1921, 
on February 12, flushed four from a moist grassy spot in the delta of the Rio Niriguao. 
They flew over the beach and alighted on the lake. 
Lane (1897) always found the species near the banks of the rivers shaded by 
forests and never in fields or open marshes. He says that on these mountain streams 
it was the only species of duck which occurred. Nothing is known of the nesting 
habits of these birds, but the eggs are described as 57-62 mm. by 39-40 mm. in 
diameter (Schalow, 1898). 
Mr. Peters says the note is a low hoarse quack which presumably refers to the female. 
The trachea is 195 mm. long and bears in the male sex a left-sided, smooth, spher- 
ical bony box of moderate size. In length this structure is 16 mm. and in breadth 
14 mm. 
The first and apparently only specimen imported into Europe was received by the 
