Anas obscura rubripes. 188 BREWSTER, An Undescribed Form of Black Duck. Auk Apr. head and neck they are quite typical of that form. The original coloring of the soft parts is not noted on any of the labels, but that of the legs in the three specimens which still possess these appendages was apparently bright red. As would be expected, the light edging on the feathers of the pileum is much narrower and less conspicuous than in birds in fresh winter plumage. From this evidence it seems reasonably safe to assume that the breeding range of true obscura extends, coastwise, to the north and east at least as far as Newfoundland and Southern Labrador and that throughout this maritime belt, as well as in New England and to the southward, rubripes occurs only during migration or in winter. The summer distribution of the latter remains to be definitely ascertained, but besides occupying the shores of Hudson Bay and those of northern Labrador it probably frequents more or less of the vast interior region lying between the points just mentioned and the St. Lawrence River. The frequency of its occurrence in late autumn at Lake Umbagog indicates that a good many of the birds which breed about Hudson Bay or to the southward take the shortest possible route to their winter quarters on the coast of New England. Others, no doubt, move directly southward for there is a typical red-legged bird in the Museum of Comparative Zoology which was taken in Mississippi County, Arkansas, on Nov. 5, 1887.¹ Those which pass their summers in northern Labrador probably follow the Atlantic coast line during migration for Mr. Batchelder has a specimen of rubripes which was shot at Custlett, Newfoundland, on November 6, 1890. It is interesting to note that in respect to one of the more essential of its distinguishing characters — viz., the immaculate buffy throat — the more southern of the forms just considered shows a slight but significant approach to the Black Duck of Florida (Anas fulvigula) which has not only the entire throat, but also the jugulum and the greater part of the cheeks, entirely free from markings. ¹ It is probable that a large proportion of the birds which occur in autumn or winter in the Mississippi Valley and about the Great Lakes belong to the form rubripes but the only Black Duck of any kind that I have seen from this region is the one above mentioned. Auk, XIX, April., 1902, pp. 183-189.