GALAPAGOS ISLAND DUCK 
ANAS GALAPAGENSIS (Ridgway) 
(Plate 41) 
Synonymy 
Poecilonitta bahamensis Gould (nec Linne), Voyage of the Beagle, ZooL, vol. 3, 
p. 135, 1841. 
Dajila bahamensis Sclater and Salvin {nec Linne), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, 
p. 323. 
Anas bahamensis Sundevall {nec Linne), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1871, p. 126. 
Poecilonetta galapagensis Ridgway, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 12, p. 115, 1889. 
Paecilonitta galapagensis Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 6, p. 88, 1918. 
Vernacular Name 
English: Galapagos Pintail, Galapagos Island Duck. 
DESCRIPTION 
Adult Male: Similar to Anas bahamensis, but the line between the brown of the head and the white 
of the face not clean-cut, and spotted with brown. Top of head grayer. Mantle grayer and some- 
what more uniform in appearance. Under tail-coverts grayer; axillars white, with irregular brown 
spots. Color of soft parts apparently the same as in the Bahama Duck. 
Wing 190-215, average 203 mm.; bill 40-45; tarsus 31.1-36.0. 
Adult Female: Similar to male, but slightly smaller, and the spot at the base of the bill yellow or 
orange, instead of red. 
Wing 180-202 mm.; culmen 37-43.4; tarsus 29-33.7. 
Note: Cases of partial albinism are not infrequent according to Gifford, and this is interesting in 
connection with the same phenomenon in the Laysan Teal and the Andaman Teal, both island 
species. 
DISTRIBUTION 
This species is confined to the Galapagos group of islands, where it has been generally found com- 
mon. It was first discovered by Darwin (Gould, 1841) and has since then been recorded for the 
following islands: Albemarle, Duncan, Charles, Hood, Chatham, Barrington, Indefatigable, Jervis, 
Tower and Seymour (P. L. Sclater and Salvin, 1870; Sundevall, 1871; Salvin, 1876; Salvin, 1883; 
Ridgway, 1897; Rothschild and Hartert, 1899; Gifford, 1913). 
GENERAL HABITS 
Were it not for the fact that this island form is entirely isolated from the true 
Bahama Duck, it would rank ai, a rather poorly marked subspecies. The only de- 
