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BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
Leopold was a Mallard drake taken November 15, 1918, which weighed 
334 pounds. The lightest drake, taken December 1, 1918, weighed 2 
pounds. The average weight in November when they are fat is 2 
pounds. Mallard hens weigh from 1% to 2% pounds, their curves 
paralleling those of the drakes with apparently a constant difference of 
a little more than half a pound. 
Among the ducks that Mr. Ligon has found trying to winter at high 
altitudes was a flock of about a hundred and fifty—apparently all 
Mallards—seen January 13, 1916, gathered in a mass on a small patch 
of open water on the otherwise solidly frozen surface of the V + T Lake 
northwest of Chloride, at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. Though there 
was an abundance of running water a few miles away on the East Gila, 
the ducks apparently found some food that held them here, and as Mr. 
Ligon says, the heat from their bodies and their stirring of the water kept 
their pool open, when all the rest of the lake was frozen (MS). 
In winter in Wisconsin, Ned Hollister wrote, “at different times I 
have crawled close to small spring-holes near the tightly frozen creeks 
and found the open water actually covered with Mallard drakes in 
perfect plumage, the brilliant green heads in mass beautiful against the 
background of snow” (1920a, p. 37). 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., Auk, XVIII, 332-333, 1901; U. S. Nat. 
Mus. Bull. 126, 34-47, 1923.— Forbush, E. H., Educational Leaflet, 36, Nat. Assoc. 
Audubon Soc.— Hollister, Ned, Condor, XXII, 36-37, 1920 (segregation of males). 
Leopold, Aldo, Condor, XXI, 182-183, 1919 (migration). —Lincoln, F. C., 
Tech. Bull. 32, U. S. Dept. Agr., 13-21, 1927 (returns from banded birds).— Mab- 
bot, D. C., U. S. Dept, Agr. Bull. 862, 1920.— McAtee, W. L., U. S. Dept. Agr. 
Bull. 720, 1918; Farmers’ Bull. 1521, 46-53, 1927.— Rockwell, R. B., Condor, 
XIII, 121-124, 1911— Saunders, A. A., Condor, XVI, 131, 1914— Skinner, M. P., 
Birds of Yellowstone Park, 144-152, 1925.— Wetmore, A., Auk, XXXVII, 238-240, 
1920; U. S. Dept, Agr. Bull. 1145, 1923. 
NEW MEXICAN DUCK: Anas dfazi novimexicana Huber 
Description. Male: Length 21.8 inches. Adult male in spring: Forehead and 
top of head black streaked with pinkish buff; sides of head and neck pinkish buff 
streaked with black; throat pinkish buff, unstreaked; breast black, margined and 
mottled with cinnamon, turning to vinaceous-buflf on belly; under tail coverts black, 
feathers edged with whitish and rufous; back, rump, and. upper tail coverts black, 
streaked and margined with brown and buffy; wing quills dark brown, speculum 
dark bluish violet, bordered by black and white bands; under wing coverts white; bill 
yellow, and feet and legs orange, in life. In fall, much darker, and edgings of 
feathers much deeper cinnamon; feathers of throat streaked with black (Huber). 
Range. In New Mexico, Rio Grande Valley from Albuquerque south to El 
Paso, Texas. 
State Records. The Black Duck was reported by Henry in 1855 as rare, a 
few seen on the Rio Grande every spring, on their passage north. These as well 
as a few later records of the Black Duck from New Mexico apparently belong to 
the New Mexican Duck described by Wharton Huber. Leopold says it is common 
