BLACK Di wk. 25 
dividing line between the two is unknown. A specimen from tin- 
Straits of Belle Esle is obscura; one from Okak, Labrador, is inter- 
mediate, and one from Ungava Bay, onlj a few miles farther north, 
is rubripes. 
The black duck breeds bo early thai young have been found at Old 
Say brook, Conn.. May 5, and eggs at Re hobo th, Mass., April 30. 
Winter range* This species is accidental in winter in the Wesi 
Indies (Jamaica), rare in the Bermudas, and rare iii central Florida 
(Gainesville) and also in Alabama. From Georgia northward it is 
more common, and from North Carolina to New Jersey it is one of the 
abundant winter ducks. Black ducks, including both .1. obscura and 
A. rubripes^ arc abundant at this season around Long Island and on 
the shores of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but although a few 
A. obscura winter in Massachusetts, the greater number are A. rubripes. 
West of the Alleghenies there is uncertainty a^ to which form pre 
ponderates in winter. A. obscura is a tolerably common winter 
resident of Louisiana, but A, rubripes reaches Arkansas, and one form 
or the other winters as far north as southern Ohio, southern Indiana, 
and southern Illinois. In migration A. obscura is rare west to eastern 
Nebraska (Fairmont, Gresham, Calhoun) and eastern Kansas (Reno 
County, Wichita, and Lawrence).- Notes on the migration of this 
species are for the most part included under those of A. rubripes. 
Anas obscura rubripes Brewst. Red-legged Black Duck. 
Breeding range. — As stated under the last species, a breeding duck 
from Okak, northeastern Labrador, is considered intermediate between 
this form and A. obscura. while the bird breeding at Ungava Bay is A. 
rubripes. This LJngava Bay record seems to mark the northeastern 
limit of the species so far as reported. Thence the species extends west 
to Hudson Bay. as far north at least as Fort Churchill, and is rare or 
accidental west to Manitoba (Long- Lake; Lake Manitoba, October i >s . 
1900; Delta. September 1, 1902, September, L903; St. Marks, two, 
October, 1902), and to Fort Anderson. The southern limit of the 
breeding- range in Ontario has not yet been determined. 
Winter range. -Most of the black ducks that winter in Massachu- 
setts are A. rubripes , and this is about a> far north as the species com- 
monly winters. Along- the coast some have been known in winter as 
far north as Nova Scotia. How far south the species goes has not yet 
been determined, but it is common on the coast of South Carolina 
from November to March, and a specimen was taken in Mississippi 
County, Ark., November 5, L887. It occurs west to Nebraska (Green- 
wood, Lincoln, Calhoun) and undoubtedly wanders to eastern Kansas. 
The northern winter limit in the interior is probably from northwestern 
Pennsylvania to southern Wisconsin. 
