THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 49 



woodland pond near Ban Pa Muat, some miles north of San Sai 

 Luang. At a swamp near Ban Nong Khiat people said that it bred 

 commonly during the rains, but when I visited this place no ducks of 

 any kind were seen, owing to the presence of fishermen in some num- 

 bers. Finally, at Phayao I was informed that it is often found on the 

 lake there. 



This is one of the largest of Thai ducks. The male has the head 

 and neck white, thickly spotted with black (glossed purple and green) ; 

 the lower neck, all around, and the entire underparts white ; the lower 

 back gray ; the remaining upperparts black, beautifully glossed with 

 bronze, purple, and green; an erect fleshy growth at the base of the 

 bill, which becomes greatly swollen in the breeding season. The fe- 

 male differs in having the black parts much less glossed and in lacking 

 the "comb." Birds of both sexes have a spur at the bend of the wing. 



ASARCORNIS SCUTULATA (S. Miiller) 



White-winged Wood L)uck 



Anas scutulata S. Muller, Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke Geschiedenis 

 der Nederlandsche overzeesche bezittingen . . . Land- en Volkenkunde 

 [=vol. 1], 1839-1844 [=1842], p. 159, footnote (Java). 



I met with a flock of five or six of these ducks at about 5,000 feet 

 on Doi Ang Ka during the first week of September 1935. I had 

 been alone to the summit of the mountain, had lost the trail for hours, 

 and finally was hurrying, drenched to the skin and bleeding from 

 hundreds of leech-bites, along a small brook through a stand of dense 

 evergreen, hoping to arrive at camp before the path was obliterated 

 by darkness. Suddenly, with loud cries, one of these gooselike birds 

 arose from my very feet, quickly followed by others. I was too 

 startled to aim my gun and within seconds they were lost to sight in 

 the gloom among the trees. 



Inquiry of the local White Karens revealed that they knew a large 

 duck that lived in the forest, but they felt that its rarity and the ir- 

 regularity of its appearances would not justify making a special 

 search for it. I never met with it again in northern Thailand. 



That a bird of this sort should be found at so high an altitude 

 seems remarkable, but it is not more so than the discovery of Rallina 

 eurizonoides nigrolineata in 1931 at virtually the same spot. 



The present species is about equal to the comb duck in size. It 

 has the head and upper neck white, thickly spotted with black; the 

 upperparts brown, glossed with green; the underside of the lower 

 neck black and the remaining underparts chestnut-brown ; the wing 

 with an extensive area of pure white at the shoulder and a large 

 speculum of blue-gray bordered above by a broad black band. 



