INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 439 



'' Expanse 32*0" to 3775" ; wing 10'3" to 11-75 ; tail from vent 

 4-8" to 9-4 ; tarsus l'5"to 1-8", bill from gape 2-0" to 2-4" ; weight 

 1 lb. 10 ozs. to 2 lbs. 12 ozs." (Hume). 



Irides dark brown, often tinged reddish ; bill light to dark plum- 

 beous, the Gulmen, lower mandible and base darker, almost black. 

 Legs and feet dark plumbeous grey or blackish ; webs, claws and 

 joints darker. 



'' In the adult male the bill is plumbeous, light plumbeous or laven- 

 der blue, with the entire lower mandible a broad band along the entire 

 culmen, the angle at the base of the upper mandible, and a strip along 

 the margin of its terminal half, black. 



" In some apparently adult males I have noted Ihe feet as brownish- 

 black, blackish -grey, and uniform dusky" (Hume). 



" Legs blue ; irides brown, bill black, blue at sides" (Vidul). 



" TiCgs very pale yellowish flesh color, variegated with shades of 

 purplish brown, darker tint of last on the nail and web membranes" 

 (Swinhoe). 



Female. — Head brownish-buflp with dark centres to the feathers ; 

 throat and chin pale ; neck the same, speckled brown, upjie.r parts 

 brown, the feathers edged white, or buffy-wbite and scapulars w^ith 

 a few bars of the same ; the white tips of the greater secondaries and 

 greater coverts form two distinct bars, but there is no speculum ; 

 quills dark brown, the inner ones narrowly edged white and al! paler 

 on the inner webs; lower parts d'ugy white more or less tinged 

 buff or even rufous and streaked and centred brown. 



Irides brown, bill and legs like the male but duller and, as far as 

 I know, the bill never has a blue tinge. I have one female with a 

 distinctly orange tinge to her legs, shewing as a sort of mottling on 

 the shanks. 



Length about 20" ; wing 9'75" to 10*25" ; tarsus about I'S" ; tail 

 about 4" to 5-25" ; bill at front 2*0" to 2'1" from gape about the 

 same. 



" Length 20" to 22*5" ; wing 9-3" to 10*2" ; tail from vent 4*2" to 

 5-5^ ; tarsus 1'45" to 1-7" ; bill from gape 2-1" to 2*35", weight lib. 2ozs. 

 to lib. !14ozs." (Hume). . 



Young Mule. — Has the wing like that of the adult, but is otherwise 

 coloured like the female. The first male plumage to be assumed is that 



