Ais^AS. 



291 



Male. — Head and neck all round deep or dark brown with glossy- 

 green reflections ; back brown; scapulars and breast white ; rmnp and 

 upper tail-coverts glossy brown black ; sides of the rurap white ■ tail 

 brown, the outer feathers white, the rest edged with white ; primaries 

 dusky brown, white shafted ; secondaries the same, their outer webs 

 rich bright green and forming the speculum ; lesser wing-coverts pale 

 blue J greater wing-coverts dusky brown, tipped vnth. white, forming 

 a bar across the wing ; tertials long and pointed, pale blue on their 

 outer webs, purplish black on the inner ones, the tips of some of the 

 elongated ones white ; abdomen rich chestnut brown or brownish red ; 

 lower tail-coverts black, glossed greenish ; flanks chestnut brown, the 

 feathers finely vermiculated with dark brown; bill black ; legs orange; 

 irides yellow. 



Length. — 19 to 20 inches, wing 9 to 10, tail 3'5 to 4, tarsus 1'2 to 

 1'4, bill from gape 2*9 to 3. 



The Female is slightly smaller, averaging 19 inches in length at the 

 outside ; wing 8 to 9. The head is pale reddish brown, with dusky 

 shaft-streaks ; breast pale brownish rufous, with dusky bi-own spots ; 

 back dusky brown, the edges and tips of the feathers paler and rufous 

 white; lesser wing-coverts tinged with pale blue; speculum green, 

 and a white bar across the wing as in the male. 



Hah. — Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Nepaul, Kashmir, 

 Eastern Turkistan, Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, Central 

 India, Rajputana, Kutch, Guzerat, Concan, Deccan, South India and 

 Ceylon. 



Winter visitors to India, affecting all the lakes, marshes, ponds, &c., 

 feeding on worms, larvse, tadpoles, seeds and young shoots of aquatic 

 plants. They are not naturally shy, as in village ponds thoy are 

 frequently seen dabbling about, or standing in the shallow edge of 

 ponds, while the inhabitants are drawing water or bathing. 



Anas, Linn. — Bill slightly longer than the head, of nearly uniform 

 width throughout ; tertials long and pointed ; tail wedge-shaped ; 

 nostrils near the base of the billj middle tail feather curled. 



Anas boscas. The Mallard. 



