Cambridge, Mass.
1909
March 16
(No 2)
time all were standing and I looked them over
carefully with my powerful double telescope. Those
belonging to the form rubripes could be distinguished
at a glance by the color of their legs which was nearly
as deep and pure as that of red sealing wax. There
were apparently only 15 of them in all. Four stood together in
one place, in another there were five with one typical
Black Duck, in still another two pairs a few yards
apart. The remaining two birds were among a much
larger number of common Black Ducks. As far
as the color of the legs was concerned there seemed
to be no intergrading specimens for all the legs
not vividly red showed no traces of that color
but, on the contrary, looked dull brown or brownish.
The nearer birds were within three hundred yards,
those most remote perhaps half a mile away.
Black Ducks.