CHAULELASMUS. 



293 



Hah. — A permanent resident in India. Breeds in Sind and the 

 Punjab. Found in large numbers in Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, the drier 

 parts of the Punjab and Rajputana, also in the N. W. and Central 

 Provinces, Oudh, Kutch, Guzerat and the Deccan. 



Affects large lakes, ponds, brushy or weedy tanks, and often the 

 banks of rivers, feeding on worms, molluscs, insects, larvae, young 

 shoots of grass, &c. Mr. Hume says, (Game B. iii. p. 168) "that the 

 breeding season of this duck varies a great deal with locality ^^; in the 

 N. W. Provinces and Oudh, also the eastern portions of Rajputana 

 and the Punjab, July, August and September are the months ; in 

 Guzerat, October. In Sind Mr. Doig obtained eggs at the latter end of 

 April and May on a small island covered with long grass in the middle 

 of the Narra. 



Chaulelasmus, G. B. Gray, Syn. Chauliodus, Sw. CI. of Birds. 

 f. 330, b. 



Bill as long as the head, of uniform width, except towards the tip, 

 where it is slightly narrowed; nail small; lamellfB projecting and 

 delicate; wings and tail long; the central tail feathers rather elongate. 



Chaulelasmus strepera. The Gadwall. 



Chaulelasmus strepera, Linn.; Pi. En. 958; Gould. B. E pi. 



366; Jerd. B. hid. iii. p. 802, No. 961; Murray, Hdhk., Zool, cj-c, 

 Sind, p. 235; Hume, Game B. Ind. p. 181. {Burd, Sind; Beyhur, 

 Punjab.) — The Gadwall. 



Male. — Head and neck fulvous or greyish white, freckled with 

 brown ; crown of the head with a slight yellowish tinge; chin and 

 throat greyish white, finely speckled with brown ; breast brown, with 

 white crescent-shaped lines on each feather ; abdomen white, minutely 

 speckled with greyish brown ; the flanks variegated with undulations 

 of brown and white ; back above clove brown, with narrow crescentic 

 undulations; scapulars with narrow undulations of brown and white; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts bluish black, with a purplish gloss; lower 

 tail-coverts glossy black, tinged with green ; tail brownish grey, 

 the edges of the feathers paler or fulvous, the two central feathers 

 pointed; primaries dark brown; secondaries nearly black; the speculum 



