INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 615 



Length about 16", wing about 7", tail about 3*3", bill generally 

 rather smaller than that of the male, but sometimes reaching the full 

 dimensions given above. 



Legs, feet and bill as in the male ; irides, grey or brownish-grov, 

 sometimes white in very old females. 



"Length 15-9" to 16-5" ; expanse 24" to 26*5" ; wing 6-8" to 7*4" ; 

 tail from vent 3" to 3-4" ; tarsus 1" to 1-25" ; bill from gape 1'9" to 

 2-5"; weight 1 lb. 3 ozs. to 1 lb. 6 ozs." (Hume.) 



Young Male. — Similar to the female, but with the whole head and 

 breast much suffused with ochraceous, and the centre of the abdomen 

 with the broad brown bases to the feathers showing prominently ; the 

 back is lighter also than in the old females, with the pale borders to the 

 feathers well defined. 



Scully, quoted by Hume, thus describes two young birds : — 

 " $ Juv. oOth July. —Lengih 16'1" ; expanse 21"; wing 5'1"; tail 

 2"4''; tarsus I'l"; bill from gape 1*75"; weight lo'o ozs.; bill dusky, livid 

 below ; irides dark brown ; legs and feet mottled dusky; claws 

 black." 



" $ Juv. 18th July.— Length 15-1" ; expanse 26-2"; wing 7-5"; tail 

 2*1"; tarsus 1*2"; bill from gape 1*9"; weight 15"4 ozs.; bill black above, 

 grey-slatey below; irides brownish-grey; legs and toes dusky plumbeous • 

 webs greyish-black ; claws black." 



" Young in first plumage. — Head and neck brown, with scarcely a 

 chestnut tinge on the sides of the head ; breast and under-parts brown 

 paler, almost whitish, on the abdomen ; under-tail coverts dull whitish" 

 (Salvadori). 



*' Young in doion are dark brown on the upper parts, with pale spot 

 on wings and scapulars ; under parts bufF, shading into brown on the. 

 flanks " (Seebohm). 



Salvadori thus defines the limits of the White-eye : — " Western palje- 

 arctic region, as far East as the valley of the Obb ; breeds in the 

 basin of the Mediterranean, in Central and Eastern Europe, and in 

 Western Asia as far as Kashmir ; in winter it extends in Africa as far 

 South as the Canaries on the West and Abyssinia on the East, in Asia 

 as far South as India and Arrakan." 



In India the White-eye is extremely common over the whole of the 

 northern portion, though it becomes less so to the East of longitude 9°, 



