PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 251 



edged and coarsely spotted with light buff. Bill light yellowish-brown, 

 darker on the culmeu, the unguis dusky; feet light yellowish (probably 

 orange in life). Wing, 8.50 ; tail, 3.25; culmen, 1.65; greatest width of 

 the bill, .GO ; depth of maxilla through the base, .50 ; tarsus, 1.30 ; mid- 

 dle toe, 1.70. 



Type, Hb. 12,7S9, U. S. Nat. Mus.; Mazatlan, Mexico; Colonel Abert. 



Eemaeks. — This remarkable little duck is very different from any 

 other species known to me. In its small size, and, to a certain extent, 

 the narrow bill, it is like the species of Querquedula, but its coloration 

 calls instantly to mind the Anas fulvigula from Florida, and the species 

 from the Sandwich Islands, recently described by Mr. Sclater. The 

 specimen is marked as being a female, so it is possible that the male 

 may be more brilliant in plumage. 



In addition to the characters given above, it may be mentioned that 

 there is a distinct indication of a narrow, dusky, postocular streak, and 

 of a wider and less distinct loral stripe, thus separating a light super- 

 ciliary stripe from the light color of the cheeks. The lining of the wing 

 and the axillars are pure white, the latter with a segregation of dusky 

 spots near the carpo-metacarpal joint. 



In the collection of the National Museum, there is a female specimen 

 of the recently described Anas wyvilliana of the Sandwich Islands. 

 Mr. Sclater's description was fortunately seen just in time to prevent the 

 renaming of the species. Since Mr. Sclater describes only the male, 

 however, a description of the opposite sex, which seems to differ but lit- 

 tle in coloration, may not be out of place in this connection : — 



ANAS WYVILLIANA, Sclater/ 



Adult female : Smaller than A. boschas or A, obseura, but somewhat 

 resembling the female of the former in plumage, being much darker, 

 however. Prevailing color a mixturo of rusty ochraceous and brownish 

 dusky, the latter predominating on the upper surface, the former on the 

 lower, the abdomen considerably paler. Eyelids pure white, forming 

 a distinct but narrow orbital ring. Head and neck finely and densely 

 streaked with blackish and pale ochraceous, the pileum nearly uni- 

 form blackish; jugulum and breast with broad crescentic or U-shaped 

 marks of dusky, each enclosing a cuneate or oblong longitudinal spot 

 of the same along the shaft ; abdomeu and anal region thickly spotted 

 with lighter grayish-brown ; flanks with markings similar to those on 

 the breast, but much larger ; crissum strongly tinged with bright rusty, 

 the larger feathers uniform black towards ends. Back and scapulars 

 dusky, the feathers with ochraceous borders, enclosing another V- or U- 

 shaped mark of the same; rump blackish, the feathers with only the 

 external ochraceous border ; upper tail-coverts blackish, marked much 

 like the scapulars, only more irregularly. Tail brownish-slate, the 

 feathers edged with whitish, and with three or four narrow bars of pale 



* P. Z. S. Mar. 19, 1878, p. 350. 



