270 Mvl•rnx,Anatid•e ofSouth Georgia. [July[Auk P¾CRAFT,W. P.-- The Courtship of Animals. London, Hutchinson & Co.. 1913. SELOUS,E. ('01.) An observationalDiary of the Habits of the Great Crested Grebe (includes observations on the Peewit). Zoologist, 1901 and 1902. ('05•) The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands. N.Y., Dutton, 1905. ('052) *Bird Life Glimpses. London, Allen, 1905. ('09.) An ObservationalDiary on the Nuptial Habits of the Black- cock, etc. Zoologist, 1909 and 1910. ('13.) A Diary of Ornithologicalobservation in Iceland. Zoologist, 1913. WASHBURN,M. F.-- The Animal Mind. Macmillan, New York, 1909. WEISMANN,A.-- The Evolution Theory. * ZOOLOGIST,THE.--West, Newman & Co., London, monthly. (Many papers on Natural History). ANATIDzE OF SOUTH GEORGIA. BY ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY. Plate XIV. THispaper is the twelfth • dealingwith the ornithological results of the SouthGeorgia Expedition of the BrooklynMuseum and the AmericanMuseum of Natural History. Nettion georgicum (Gmel.) Anas georgica,Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 2, 1788, 516. Querquedulaeatoni, yon denSteinen, Intern. Polarforsch.,1882-83, Deutsch. Exp. II, 1890, 219 and 273. XA list of the precedingpapers, not includingseveral brlef notes,follows: (1) preliminary Descriptionof a New Petrel, 'The Auk,' 1914, 12, 13; (2) A Flock of Tublnares,'The Ibis,' 1914,317-319; (3) Observationson Birdsof the SouthAtlantic, 'The Auk,' 1914,439-457; (4) A Reviewof the GenusPh•ebelria, 'The Auk,' 1914,526-534; (5) AnatomicalNotes on the Young of Phalacrocorax alriceps georgianus, Sci. Bull. Brooklyn Mus. II, 4, 1914, 95- 102; (6) Birds of Fernando Noronha, 'The Auk,' 1915, 41-50; (7) The Atlantic Range of Leach's Petrel, 'The Auk,' 1915, 170-173; (8) The Bird Life of Trinidad Islet, 'The Auk,' 1915, 332-348; (9) The Penguins of South Georgia, Sci. Bull. Brooklyn Mus. II, 5, 1915, 103-133; (10) Notes on American Subantarctic Cormorants,Bull. A.M. N.H., XXXV 1916, 31-48; (11) Two New Diving Petrels, Bull. A.M. N.H., XXXV, 1916, 65-67. THE AUK, VOL. XXXIII. PLATE X[V. 1. SOUTH GEORGIA TEAL. 2. MAGELLANIC GOOSE. ¾ol. 1916XXXIII] J MvRrn¾,Anatidce of South Georgia. 271 Querquedulaantarctica, Cabanis, Journ. f. Ornith., 1888, 118, pl. 1. Nettion georgicum,Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXVII, 1895, 264; LSnnberg,Kungl. Svensk.Vet. Akad. Handl. XL, 5, 1906, 66. EndemicAnatinm inhabit severalof the subantarcticislands, the speciespeculiar to South Georgiabeing the southernmostof the whole group. This little teal was amongthe birds noted by CaptainJames Cook in January,1775, on the occasionof the first recordedlanding at South Georgia. Eleven adults and one ducklingwere collectedby the writer betweenNovember, 1912, and March, 1913. A singleadditional skin was receivedsubsequently from Mr. Jos4G. Correia,of New Bedford, Mass. Under the new name Querquedulaantarctica, Cabanis in 1888 publisheda coloredplate of this teal. The figureis pooras regards both contourand coloration,and the bill is shownentirely black. LSnnbcrg(loc. cit. Tar. 2) illustratesthe head of a male, showing correctlythe distributionof coloron the bill, but here again the yellowof the lithographis very unlike the hue of the living bird's bill. I had LSnnberg'splate'with me at South Georgia,and com- paredit with freshlykilled teals. LSnnbcrg'sdescription of the speciesleaves little to be desired. It shouldbe amendedto this slightextent, viz., mature females, as well as males,have the central velvety black stripe along the tertials,although on the averageit is slightlymore pronounced in male specimens.In general,the femaleis distinguishableonly by the dull speculumand slightlysmaller size. The entire speculum in eachof my eight adult maleshas a greengloss when viewed obliquely. Birds in fresh plumagehave conspicuouslywhitish breasts,due to wide colorlessmargins on the featherswhich subse- quentlywear away, leavingonly the browncentral portions. Flesh colors. Iris dark brown. Culmcn, nail, and distal border of maxilla, black; remainder of tip of bill, slaty blue; sides.of maxillaNaples-yellow, becoming greenish where it blendswith the blue tip. Legsand feet oliveTgreen,mottled with sooty-brown. Measurements in millimeters. Eight males,collected between November 30 and December30. Length (skins),418-445; wing, 211-222; tail, 93-104; culmcn, 272 Mcl•raY,Anatidce ofSouth Georgia. [July[Auk •rom frontal feathers,32-36; width of bill at base,12.5-16; tarsus, '35.5-39; middletoe and claw,45-51. Four females, collected between December 1 and March 3. Length (skins), 390-412; wing, 195-207; tail, 85-93; eulmen, •rom frontal feathers,31-34; width of bill at base, 12•I5; tarsus, 35-36; middle toe and claw, 46-49. Bill LengthWing Tall CUbhen widthTarsus Toe Average of 8 males 432 217 100 34 14 37 48 " "4 females 404 201 89 33 13 36- 48 The testesof a male shot on December 1, 1912 measured38 X 19 millimeters. The cropof a femalecollected January 2, 1913,contained marine amphipods. Salvadori(1. c., p. 264), without havingseen a specimenof Netliongeorgicum, concludes that its affinitiesare with the groupof teals containing the South American speciesN. flavirostre, N. oxypterum,and N. andium. A comparisonof my specimenswith all of these, however,shows that the South Georgia bird is quite distinct. Its real relationship,hitherto unsuspected,is with the duck known as Dafila s?inicauda(Vieill.), a widely distributed species,occm-ring, apparently in the form of severalundescribed geographicraces, from Brazil to the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands. The South Georgian teal is, indeed, almost a facsimileof Dafila spinicauda,smaller, considerably darker (espe- cially on the undersurface), but with similarproportions, the same patternand distributionof colorover the wholebody including the bill (fideR. H. Beck,label), the samewholly black speculum with a greensheen, the sameblack-striped tertials and pointedtail. Dr. Frank M. Chapman, who first called my attention to the striking resemblancebetween the South Georgiabirds and skinsof Dafila s•inicaudain themagnificent Brewster-Sanford collection, remarked at the same time that the case furnished an excellent example of taxonomicrelationship obscured by inaccuratenomenclature. Vol. XXXIII] 1916 J MURPHY,Anatidce of SouthGeorgia. 273 Consideringthe si•nilarit•of thesetwo ducks, it is rathersur- prising to discoverthat Dafila spinicaudahas only fourteen rec- trices, whereasNettion georgicumhas sixteen. Usually, a•nong the Anati&e as well as other groups,the larger specieshave the greater nmnber of tail feathers, but here the rule is reversed. Dafila acuta has sixteen rectrices,so that in this character it is no closerto D. spinicaudathan the latter is to Nettion georgicum, while in all its other charactersit is vastly further re•noved. In short, after co•nparingthe colorpattern, the proportionatedi•nen- sionsof bill, wing, foot and tail, the shapeof the central and outer- •nost rectrices,and the graduationof the pri•naries,in these three speciesof ducks,I a•n forcedto the conclusionthat Dafila spini- cauda, the closest known relative of Nettion georgicum,should likewisebe relegatedto the genusNettion, or else a new genus, intermediate between Dafila and Nettion, should be erected to contain it. Since the establishmentof numerouswhaling stationsat South Georgia,the native teal has fared badly, the whalemenlosing no opportunity of bringing the toothsomebirds to table. In the neighborhoodof CumberlandBay its numbershave beengreatly reduced,although I saw six, all extremelywild, on November28, 1912. Fortunately, the configurationof the land at SouthGeorgia is of a characterto prevent the exterminationof the species,for the half dozennorthern fiords to which the whaling stationsare confinedare for the most part separatedfrom adjacentfiords by impassableglaciers and ice-cappedranges. Thereforethe teals may be wipedout in onevalley, and yet be abundantjust beyond the next mountain. Judging from several accountsof South Georgia,particularly that of Klutschak(1881), thesebirds are not found at all on the southerlyor Antarctic slopeof the island. At the isolatedBay of Isles, I found the teals commonabout the middle of December,which correspondsto our June. They weremore numerous on the isletsin the bay than on the mainland, and were remarkably unsophisticated,allowing bands of men to walk right up to them as they fishedfor amphipodsfrom the rocks in the kelp fieldsat low tide, or dabbledin the freshwater ponds that filled every hollow of the grassyislands. As they fed, they quackedsoftly from time to time. 274 MvI•r•¾,Anatidee ofSouth Georgia. t[AukJuly On December29, Mr. Correiaand I cameacross a pair of these birds, whose photographis here reproduced,while. they were feedingin a tiny glacial streamleton the mainland south of the Bay of Isles. They were well hidden by tall tussock(Poa fiabel- lata), and we did not see them until we had almost stumbled over them. They seemedunconcerned, however, and continued proddingabout in the mud. When I steppedwithin six feet, they raisedtheir headsand waddiedfarther off amongthe hummocks, from where they peeredout through a screenof droopinggrass. All but their bright eyesand yellow bills blendedcompletely with the surroundings. Much againstour sentiment,Mr. Correia shot the female•as up to that time I had beenable to collectonly two of this sex. The drakeflew off whistling,with a teal'scharacteristic speed. Two or three of the duck-huntingNorwegian whalemen informedme that if, on the other hand, we had shot the drake, his mate would have refusedto leave the spot.