6 INDIAN SPOKTING BIKDS 



ducks. The eggs can be distinguished from mallard eggs by 

 their rounder form and more buff tinge, not being greenish ; ten 

 is the usual sitting, but the full number of ducklings are never 

 apparently reared ; in fact, considering the ground-breeding habits 

 of the bird, and the abundance of all sorts of vermin in India, 

 the wonder is that it is so common at all. It is universally 

 valued as a sporting bird, and is as good eating as mallard ; so 

 close is the alliance that the two species when brought together 

 in captivity interbreed without hesitation. The native names, 

 however, keep up the distinction of species ; the spotted-bill 

 being called Hunjur in Sindhi, and Gugral as well as Garmpai in 

 Hindustani ; Kara is the Manipuri name, and Naddun that used 

 in Nepaul. 



Ycllow-i\ib or Chinese Grey Duck. 



Anas zonorliyncha. 



This East Asiatic representative of the spotted-bill has of 

 late years proved to occur quite commonly is Assam, and also to 

 be found in the Shan States and Upper Burmah. Although it 

 never has the red spots at the base of the bill so characteristic of 

 the spotted-bill of India, this is not the chief distinction, as these 

 spots may be absent in perfectly adult and otherwise normal 

 spotted-bills ; I have seen one such in the London '* Zoo," which 

 was the father of perfectly normal young when paired to a female 

 which showed the spots. 



The most striking point about the yellow-nib is the fact that 

 the wing-bar is bhie instead of green, and that the white on the 

 inner quills never forms more than a border, and does not take 

 up all the outer half of the feather ; moreover, the plumage is 

 not so distinctly marked as that of the spotted-bill — although 

 there is a very distinct whitish eyebrow — and is much darker 

 below, the belly as well as the stern being blackish. The bill is 

 apparently rather smaller, and is blacker, the yellow tip being 

 smaller. 



The yellow-nib occurs sometimes in quite large flocks — as 

 many as forty have been seen together in Lakhimpur — but small 

 parties of pairs are commoner ; when thus few in numbers they 



