(BAHAMA PINTAIL.)
+Anas bahamensis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 515 (Rio Uruguay).
+Dafila bahamensis+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 130; _iid. P.
Z. S._ 1868, p. 146 (Buenos Ayres), et 1876, p. 393; _Durnford,
Ibis_, 1877, p. 192 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 274
(Carhué, Pampas); _Burm. P. Z. S._ 1872, p. 367.
_Description._--Above reddish, brown; feathers with their centres
blackish; lower back blackish; upper tail-coverts and tail
fawn-colour; wings dark slaty black; broad speculum bronzy green,
margined above and below by a fawn-coloured band, the lower band
with an interior black margin; edgings of the external secondaries
fawn-colour: beneath brownish fawn-colour, entirely covered with
obsolete black spots; throat and cheeks and front neck pure white;
bill black, with a red spot at the base on each side; feet brown:
whole length 18·0 inches, wing 8·4, tail 5·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ South America.
The Bahama Duck, as it is commonly called, though it is very doubtful
whether it really occurs in the Bahama Islands, is found throughout
South America from British Guiana to Patagonia; and Burmeister says
that it is spread over the whole of Brazil, and that it is nearly the
commonest species of Duck in that country.
On the pampas of Buenos Ayres this Duck is not a common bird. It is
usually seen in pairs, or, on rare occasions, three or four together.