OCR Text |
Show 1876.] NEOTROPICAL ANATID.E. 387 pggio paululum obscuriore; pectoris guttis magis distinctis et fere totum ventrem occupantibus ; necnon aliset tarsis brevioribus distinguenda : long, tota 15*0, ala 7*4, cauda 3*5, rostri a rictu 1*65, tarsi 1*2. Hab. Buenos Ayres (Azara, Hudson); Mendoza (Burm.); Straits of Magellan (Darwin) ; Falklands (Abbott) ; Chili (Philippi fy Landb). This Duck was first obtained by Azara in Buenos Ayres; aud his name for it was not very correctly latinized by Vieillot. W e have specimens from the same neighbourhood, obtained by Mr. W . H . Hudson. It seems to be distributed thence all over Antarctic America. According to Burmeister it is not unfrequently seen near Mendoza, in the lagoon of Rodeo del Medio. Philippi and Landbeck state that it is common in Chili, and southwards on the western coast to the Straits of Magellan. In the last-mentioned locality Mr. Darwin also obtained specimens. In the Falkland Islands this species is more plentiful in the interior than in the neighbourhood of civilization, and is found in large flocks in some of the freshwater streams. It lays in September, and even as early as August; and the nest, with its complement of five eggs, placed in the dry grass in some retired unfrequented valley, is very difficult to find. As a rule, the bird is very tame. 6. QUERQUEDULA ANDIUM. (Plate XXXIV.) Dafila f sp.?, Scl. P.Z. S. 1860, p. 63 (Ecuador). Querquedula andium, Scl. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 162, et P. Z.S. 1875, p. 237. Capite undique nigro et albo frequentissime marmorato ; dorso obscure cinereo, scapularibus aneo-nigris fusco circumcinctis ; speculo atari aneo-nigro in secundariis dorso proximis nitidis* sime aneo-viridi, supra et subtus fascia pallide castanea marginato ; abdomine albo cineraceo adumbrato ; pectore maculis plumarum centralibus fusco-nigris ; rostro nigro, pedibus car* neis : long, tota 160, ala 9*0, cauda rigidiuscula 3*5. Hab. High Ecuador, between Riobamba and Mocha (Fraser) ; Sierra Nevada of Merida (Goering). Obs. Similis Q. oxyptera et Q. flavirostri, sed notaeo obscuriore, rostro nigro, et speculo alari ameo neque viridi distinguenda. Mr. Fraser obtained a single specimen of this Duck on the high plateau of Riobamba in 1859 ; but Sclater did not succeed in making out the species. Subsequently Salvin selected two examples of the same bird from a collection sent to this country from Quito ; and we were thus enabled to describe it for the first time in our ' Nomenclator.' Last year we had again the pleasure of recognizing an example of this species in Mr. Goering's last collection from the Sierra Nevada of Merida, where it was obtained at an altitude of 10,000 feet. It would appear, therefore, that this Duck replaces the two preceding species in the Andes of Ecuador and Venezuela. W e have not vet seen it from Columbia; but no doubt it occurs there also. |