86 PTERONETTA HARTLAUBI 



dark brown; feet black; bill black above, black and whitish beneath (specimen collected by G. L. 

 Bates, Nov. 16, 1910, River Ja, Camerun). Compared with the young of the Mallard this is much 

 blacker on the upper side, with the orbital stripe very broad and black, especially between the bill 

 and the eye. There are no golden, hair-like feathers on the mantle and back. The lower surface is 

 about the same as in the Mallard. 



Remarks: In the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, vol. 21, p. 42 (1908), Neumann 

 describes as distinct, birds from the Upper Congo, Uelle, and Ituri Rivers in northeastern Congo 

 Free State under the name Pteronetta hartlaubi albijrons. The characters given are: "large white 

 patch on the forehead extending to the middle of the vertex," and also "a ring of white feathers 

 around the eye." In the American Museum of Natural History in New York there is a fine series of 

 eighteen specimens taken by Mr. James P. Chapin in the same region, and only one, a male, has the 

 whole top of the head and periocular region white. In this case the white area extends along the 

 sides of the bill to the chin and is not nearly symmetrical on the two sides of the head. Another 

 specimen has numerous white feathers on the chin and throat, and the white forehead patch very ir- 

 regular. This patch is usually square and about 85 mm. deep, but sometimes there is no patch at all, 

 and at other times white spots occur up to the pileum. It is therefore apparent that the characters 

 given for the new race are extremely variable, and as partial albinism appears to be quite common about 

 the head in closely allied species (Spur-winged Goose, White-winged Wood Duck, Comb Duck) the 

 characters cannot be considered of much significance, unless supported by large series from different 

 localities. Bates (Ibis, ser. 9, vol. 5, p. 482, 1911), in describing specimens from the Camerun, says 

 that all his examples (six in number) have either no white, or a very faint ticking of white on the 

 forehead, excepting two males which have a white spot on the forehead. He considers the white spot 

 characteristic of the male, but also acquired by old females. All the specimens in the British Museum 

 from the Camerun, Sierra Leone, and West Africa generally are black-headed, so that it is evident 

 that if we consider Pteronetta hartlaubi albijrons a valid race it will have to be restricted to the Ituri 

 and Aruwimi (lower Ituri) Rivers, for no really white-headed birds occur on the Uelle River. Males 

 are found there with white foreheads only. 



To sum up, the white head is a variable character, more or less dependent upon age and sex as 

 well as upon locality. It is a matter of opinion whether it should be made the basis of a distinct race. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Our knowledge of the range of this species is still very fragmentary. It is a distinctly non-migratory 

 West African species, found chiefly north of the Equator and perhaps never occurring north of 10° 

 N. lat. It has been found as far west as western Liberia, on the Junk River (Biittikofer, 1886), where 

 it seems to be not uncommon. Johnston (1906) met it in eastern Liberia and there is a single record 

 for Sierra Leone (Ibis, ser. 10, vol. 2, p. 224, 1914), but there are no records of its occurrence on the 

 Ivory Coast. It is known, however, from the Rio Boutry, Gold Coast (Hartlaub, 1885) ; but then again, 

 has never been recorded from Togo, Dahomey, or Nigeria. In Camerun it is a well-known bird, 

 especially on the Ja River, where it breeds (Bates, 1909). The same explorer found it at Efulen, 

 Benito, and Como, while Zenker, the first to discover this species in Camerun, found it near Jaunde 

 (Reichenow, 1900). Reichenow (1911) states that it was found on the Decha River and in four places 

 between there and the coast. There are as yet no records from north Camerun. According to Roche- 

 brune (1883-85) it is rare, but resident in Gambia and Senegal, a statement difficult to accept. 



On two different occasions the species was found in Spanish Guinea, while in French Equatorial 

 Africa it was found abundant in Gabun, on the Kamma and on the Ogowe Rivers, by Du Chaillu 

 (Cassin, 1859). Recently it has also been taken in the Rio Benito region, at Alen, Uelleburg, and 

 Bebai (Reichenow, 1910). Marche (Barboza de Bocage, 1880) has obtained it from Doume. The 



