INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 25 



The colours, as with nearly all ducks, vary considerably ; the abdomen 

 is sometimes as pure white as freshly-fallen snow, often tinged with 

 rufous and sometimes wholly of that colour. In the same way the c lours 

 of the head vary much also. 1 have a fine drake before me now in which 

 the rufous head contrasts strongly with the blacker })reast ; and again 

 another drake in which the two colours blend with one another. 



Maxilla dark slaty brown, black or brown ; mandible jaler and } ellowish 

 or red'.Iish on the gonys and tip ; irides dark brown ; legs yellow, 

 browiii^li-yellow to dull orange ; claws almost black. 



" Legs and toes orange-red, less bright after the smnmer moult; claws 

 black ; webs dusky orange-red." 



Length 19-5" to 21-5 "; wing 10-5" to 11-75" ; tail 3-4" to 4'3" ; tareus 

 about 1-5" ; bill at front 1-90" to 2-00" and from gape 2*05" to 2*25" ; 

 weight from 1 lb. 7 oz. to 2 lb. 4 oz. 



Female. — General colour above brown, the feathers with buff or rufous 

 margins, and the head and neck more or less spotted and streaked on a 

 light groimd ; the scapulars unmarked dark brown; rump and upper tail 

 coverts brownish-black ; wings as in the male, but the chestnut, if not 

 altogether absent, is present only on the outer webs of some of the median 

 coverts ; below the breasts and sides are pale rufous, sometimes rather 

 darker, spotted with brown ; under tail coverts and feathers about vent 

 the same ; remainder of lower parts white, more or less tinged with rufous. 



Irides and legs the same as in the male ; bill dull orange to yellowish- 

 brown; the culmen and tip brown. 



Length about 18" to 20-1" ; wing 9" to 10" (10-2" Hume) ; tail S'O" to 

 4-0" (3-7" to 4-5" Hume) ; tarsus 1-37" to 1*42" ; bill at front 1-8" to 

 1-95" and from gape 1*95" to 215"; weight about 1 lb. to If lb. 



" Young in first plumage closely resembles the adult female, but 

 there is no chestnut or black on the wings ; the white on the secondaries 

 is dull ; and the whole of the feathers on the under parts have obscure 

 ill-defined brown centres." (Salvadori.) 



Young in down are like those of the Mallard, " but there is a more 

 pronounced golden tinge on the throat and cheeks, the streak through 

 the eye is more defined, and there is a small dark spot at the junction of 

 the mandibles which the Mallard has not.'' (Yarrell.) 



After the breeding season the drake assumes a plumage similar to that 

 of the duck, returning to his full dress attire before the winter has fairly 



