288 FEATHERED GAME 
wildfowler of my acquaintance claims that this 
duck never goes near the inland waters, but 
is entirely a maritime race. This seems hardly 
probable, but there is certainly more reason for 
this bit of ‘‘feather-splitting’’ than for many 
other cases already admitted to good standing 
in the ornithologist’s list. Mr. William Brew- 
ster, of Cambridge, Mass., has given this north- 
ern form official sanction and the scientific 
name of Anas obscura rubripes. 
It may be well to state that in the southerr 
part of its range there are two varieties of 
this duck known to the scientist, although the 
average gunner would not be likely to note a 
difference; these are the Texan and the Flor- 
idan Black Duck. The Floridan race is of 
lighter color than the typical bird; cheeks and 
throat very pale buff, almost, if not quite, with- 
out streaking; bill yellowish olive with a black 
nail and a patch of black at the base of upper 
mandible, resembling somewhat more the fe- 
male mallard than the type of the Black Duck. 
Speculum sometimes greenish, sometimes pur- 
plish, and often the feathers making it are 
white-tipped. 
The Texan race has a dirty gray color on 
