22 JOURNA L, BOMB A Y NA TURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



The female Bronze-oapped Teal is so like the female Gadwall that 

 both Hume and Salvadori give the points l)y which they may be discri- 

 minated. They are these : The principal difference lies in the wing 

 speculum ; in the Gadwall " the entire visible portions of the later secon- 

 daries are pure white, the terminal portions of their layer coverts white. 



" In fiunale falcata the visible portions of the later secondaries are 

 black, with more or less of metallic-green reflections, narrowly tipped 

 with white ; and the terminal portion of their greater coverts are black." 



The maxilla also of the Gadwall is only dark along the culmen, 

 whereas the whole of the upper mandible of the Bronze-cap is dark ; so 

 also there is always more or less of an orange or yellowish tinge on the 

 feet and legs of the Gadwall, whereas there is no trace of this colour in 

 those of the other duck, in which they are more or less of a light slate 

 colour. These last differences however will not be very noticeable in 

 the dried skin, not at all in very old specimens, and can only be of use 

 in discriminating birds in the flesh. It should be always borne in 

 mind bv anyone wishing to ascertain the identity of a bird that it is 

 infinitely easier to do so whilst it is in the flesh than afterwards, when it 

 has become a dried stiff" specimen : the colours of the soft parts are then 

 undiscernible, more often than not small marks of feathers, such as rings 

 round the eyes, indistinct supereilia and similar marking's are seldom as 

 distinct as in the fresh bird, and often, if roughly handled in the skinning, 

 become totally lost. Thus if it is possible the bird sliould be identified in 

 the flesh as soon as ])ossi])le and, if it cannot be, the colours of the soft 

 parts must be carefully noted, and a rough note made also of anything 

 remarkable in the coloration. 



The Bronze-ca])ped Teal breeds throughout Southern Siberia to the 

 east and centre, Ijut rarely to the west ; it has been found breeding on all 

 four shores of Lake Baikal, but even there more plentifully to the east 

 and south ; it breeds also in the Amur, and probably a good deal further 

 north. Middendorf says that it " breeds plentifully in the Stanaway 

 mountains, and nearly to the tops of the ranges," and, as Hume points 

 out, if it selects sites at as high an altitude as this, it is sure to extend 

 considerably further north in the plains. 



In Manchuria, where my informant took several nests, they are said to 

 make them on low-lying parts, along the l)anks of the larger rivers, which 

 are more or les> in the condition of swamps. The nest appears to I)e a 



