INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 455 



Blanford says " it is rare in India, so far as my experience goes, to 

 see a male in full plumage before the end of February," but I should 

 note that I have a male in splendid plumage shot in November. 



Female. — The whole upper plumage brown, each feather edged with 

 pale rufous or dirty rufous white ; wing coverts grey : quills brown 

 with faint traces of the speculum and the white terminal bar to the 

 wing coverts well defined. Lower parts dull brownish buff varying a 

 good deal in depth and tint, the brown bases to the feathers showing 

 through in dark crescentic bauds on breast, flanks and sides, but not at 

 all, or only slightly on the abdomen ; chin immaculate ; neck and sides 

 of head speckled with dark brown. 



Most ducks, but not all, have a well defined white loreal spot speckled 

 brown. 



Irides brown or orange brown ; legs like those of the male, but duller 

 at all seasons ; bill dull brown, the lower mandible dull orange or orange 

 brown. 



" In the female, the upper mandible is dark brown, tinged reddish 

 along the commissure and on the nail, while the lower mandible is dull 

 orange, brownish towards the tip. 



'' The irides vary in the female from brown to reddish brown, 



but I have recorded them as light yellow in one female, so that 



there is only a general, and not a constant, sexual difference in the 

 colour." (Hume). 



Length about 18-5"; wing S'l" to 9-2"; tail about 3-5" or less ; 

 tarsus 1-2" to 1-4" ; bill from gape 2-8". 



*' Length IS'O" to 19-0" ; expanse 27-0" to 29-5" ; \\ ing 8-0" to 

 8-9" ; tail from vent 3'5" to 3-85" > tarsus 1*2" to 1-4"; bill irom gape 

 2-65" to 2-87" ; weight I lb. to 1 lb. 7 ozs." (Hume). 



Male in first plumage resembles the female, but the wings are 

 brighter coloured ; bill pale reddish brown ; legs and feet flesh colour. 



Males in their post nuptial plumage have the white of the breast 

 with a few dark crescentic bands, the lower belly with dark bars, and 

 the rich black of the under tail coverts mottled with chestnut and white. 



'' Young in doivn resemble those of the Wigeon in having the upper 

 parts almost uniform, with indistinct pale spots, but they possess the 

 dark brown stripe through the eye as in the young Mallard. The 

 bill is not widened at the tip but it grows very rapidly " (Salvadori.) 



