Anas obscura rubripes. 
Western Mass. 
Extract -from a letter by Robert 0.Morris to Wm.Brewster, 
dated Springfield, Mass., January 19, 1903. 
" In regard to the red legged black ducks about which we 
had some correspondence a month or two ago. Late in the au¬ 
tumn, I"left word with the proprietor of a market in Spring- 
field, that dealt in game, to send me any black ducks he re¬ 
ceived that he knew were taken in this vicinity, which re¬ 
sulted in my obtaining through that source, half a dozen spec¬ 
imens of true obscura. About the same time, I told a man, who 
shot a good many ducks about here, that if he captured a black 
duck with red legs, to send it to me. and all I received from 
him was a female mallard. Mot far from the first of December, 
I visited a place near the line between the towns of Wilbraham 
and Hampden, where black ducks always winter, and found a 
flock of about thirty there, but I failed to capture any. Two 
or three weeks later, and after a very cold time, I went to 
the same place, and found the flock had been reduced to half 
a dozen individuals, but in walking, the breaking of the crust 
upon the snow made so much noise, I was unable to approach 
very near without flushing them. It then occurred to me that 
the true obscura had been driven south by the cold, and only 
the northern form remained. Last Saturday I visited the place 
again, and found about the same number there as at the last 
