Extinct Birds Part 27

ANAS FINSCHI VAN BENEDEN.

_Anas finschi_ Van Beneden, Journ. Zool. IV, p. 267 (1875); Ann. de la Soc. Geol. Belg. II, p. 123 (1876).

This duck is most peculiar, as it stands intermediate between _Querquedula_ and _Dendrocygna_ in structure, and its nearest known ally seems to be the extinct _A. blanchardi_ of Europe, and of living forms apparently _Clangula clangula_.

Skull nearest to that of _Clangula clangula_ but wider, nostrils more elongated, eye-sockets smaller, and the whole skull more regularly rounded off. _Sternum_ differs from that of _C. clangula_ by having the notch lower, more faint behind and shorter in front. Clavicle and coracoid resemble those of _Fuligula marila_. Humerus larger and stronger than in _F. marila_ and _C. clangula_, as are the femur, tibio-tarsus and tarso-metatarsus, which are almost double as long and thick.

Judging from the shape of its leg-bones this bird must have been a strong runner, and probably at the same time was a poor flyer.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

ANAS THEODORI NEWT. & GAD.

_Anas theodori_ Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 291, pl.

x.x.xIV, figs 11-17 (1893--Mauritius).

Messrs. Newton and Gadow founded this species on a fragment of a sternum, a pair of coracoids, eight humeri, and a pair of tarso-metatarsi. These are referable to a duck of larger size than _Nettion bernieri_, and somewhat intermediate between _N. punctata_ and _Anas melleri_.

The sternum differs from that of _A. melleri_ by the lesser height of the keel and by the shape and direction of the anterior margin of the latter.

The coracoid is longer and larger than in _N. bernieri_, but is much shorter than in _A. melleri_, though agreeing with that of the latter in shape, and by the plain almost ridgeless ventral surface of the shaft. The seven humeri vary in length from 70-78 mm., and agree in size with those of _N. punctata_, thus proving our species to be smaller than _A. melleri_.

The two tarso-metatarsi are in poor condition; the right one measuring 42 mm. in length, thus indicating that _A. theodori_ was a bird with a shorter foot than _A. melleri_.

Habitat: Mauritius.

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CAMPTOLAIMUS LABRADORIA (GM.)

(PLATE 36.)

_Anas labradoria_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 2, p. 537 (1788--"Habitat gregaria in America, boreali." Ex Pennant and Latham.)

_Anas labradora_ Latham, Ind. Orn. II, p. 859 (1790).

_Rhynchaspis labradora_ Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool. XII, 2, p. 121 (1824).

_Fuligula labradora_ Bonaparte, Ann. Lyceum N.Y. II, p. 391 (1826).

_Somateria labradora_ Boie, Isis 1828, p. 329.

_Kamptorhynchus labradorus_ Eyton, Mon. Anat. p. 151 (1838).

_Fuligula grisea_ Leib, Journ. Acad. Sc. Philad. VIII, p. 170 (1840--young bird).

_Camptolaimus labradorus_ Gray, List. Gen. B. ed. 2, p. 95 (1841); Dutcher, Auk. 1891, p. 201, pl. II; 1894, pp. 4-12; Hartl. Abh. naturw.

Ver. Bremen XVI, p. 23 (1895).

_Camptolaemus labradorius_ Baird, B.N. Amer. p. 803 (1858); Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Water--B. N. Amer. II, p. 63 (1884); Milne-Edw. and Oustalet, Centen. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., Notice Ois. eteint. p. 51, pl. IV (1893); Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVII, p. 416 (1895).

The adult male and a young male, both in my museum, are represented on plate 36, but the young bird became too rufous, through the colour type reproduction, and should be somewhat more mouse-gray. Though first technically named by Gmelin in 1788, this duck was first described in 1785 by Pennant, in the Arctic Zoology II, p. 559, as follows:--

"Pied Duck. With the lower part of the bill black, the upper yellow, on the summit of the head is an oblong black spot; forehead, cheeks, rest of the head and neck, white; the lower part encircled with black; scapulars and coverts of wings white; back, breast, belly, and primaries, black; tail cuneiform, and dusky; legs black. The bill of the supposed female?

resembles that of the male, head and neck mottled with cinereous brown and dirty white; primaries dusky; speculum white; back, breast, and belly clouded with different shades of ash-colour; tail dusky and cuneiform; legs black. Size of a common Wild Duck.

"Sent from Connecticut, to Mrs. Blackburn. Possibly the great flocks of pretty Pied Ducks, which whistled as they flew, or as they fed, seen by Mr.

Lawson in the western branch of Cape Fear inlet, were of this kind."

The Labrador-Duck is one of those birds, the disappearance of which is not easily explained. As Mr. Dutcher truly said, "we can speculate as to the cause of its disappearance, but we have no facts to warrant a conclusion."

Formerly _Camptolaimus_ was of regular occurrence along the northern Atlantic sh.o.r.es of North America, in winter south to New Jersey and New York. It has often been sold on the markets of New York and Baltimore, and n.o.body antic.i.p.ated even fifty years ago that they might become extinct, but they {106} appear never to have been very numerous, at least we have no proof of this. It is true that Professor Newton tells us that this duck used to breed on rocky islets, and that "its fate is easily understood,"

since "man began yearly to visit its breeding haunts, and, not content in plundering its nests, mercilessly to shoot the birds." This, however, seems to be mere conjecture, as we do not know for certain where the breeding haunts of this Duck have been, and that anyone has ever visited them. All information known about the breeding of this bird is that of Audubon, who says that his son was shown empty nests on the top of bushes, which a clerk of the fis.h.i.+ng establishment told him were those of the Labrador Duck. This information is certainly too uncertain to draw any conclusions from, but the breeding places might just as well have been much further to the north, and probably were.

The number of specimens extant is 48.

Amiens, Town Museum: 1 [male] ad. (Auk. 1897, p. 87).

Berlin Museum: 1, bought from Salmin (Hartl. p. 23).

Paris: [male] adult, presented 1810 by M. Hyde de Neuville.

London, British Museum: 2, a [male] ad. and a [female] ad., neither of them with exact locality or date.

Liverpool: 2 [male] ad., 1 [female], 1 [male] jun.

Cambridge: 1 [male]

Dublin: 1 fine mounted [male] (Dr. Scharff in litt.)

Tring: 1 [male] ad., 1 [male] jun. (See below.)

Brussels: 1 [male] ad.

St. Petersburg: 1 [male] ad., purchased from Salmin.

Heine Museum in Germany: 1 poor specimen.

Munich: The Museum possesses a male from the collection of the Duke of Leuchtenberg.

Dresden: 1 [male] and two doubtful eggs--the latter doubtless wrong I should say.

Vienna: 1 [male] ad., exchanged from Baron von Lederer in 1830.

Locality New York; 1 [female] ad., bought from Brandt in Hamburg in 1846, for 4 Gulden!