Qi [Chap. VllI, 



PAiiAs. 20, 21 ct 22.] 



In the Wiaeon — the colours in the cream blaze and 

 chestnut head are^ not bright. There are no white 

 shoulder patches and no white on tlie lower back, as in the 

 mature bird. 



21. Only two of the thirteen species dealt with ]ia\e Index 

 the Hanks, or sides of the body, and the lower plumage ^f I'ower^ 

 of one uniform colour, viz., the Spotbill and the AJarbled plumage, 

 Duck; in the rest, whether True or Diving Ducks, the fl^^n'^s and 



1 • r 1 . «» under 



colouring ot these respective portions is different. tail-coverts. 



All the species of True Duck treated have in the 

 male the under tail-coverts black except the Garganey ; 

 so have the Spotbill and the Tufted Duck. 



KEY 7. 



/. Having lower fdnmage and .-i es of hoilij of one 

 uniform colour throughout. — 



Spotbill. 



Marbled Duck. 



II. Iltivinrj lamer 'pluma -e and sides of hody dilftr- 

 ent. — - 



All the True Ducks except the Marbled Duck. 



The Pochards. 



/. Having the nnde.'" tail-covert.s hiack [in the 

 Male) — 



All the True Ducks (except the Grarganey Teal). 

 //. HaviiiQ the tail-coveilH barred acros.*'. — 

 Marbled Duck. 



22. Gates, who examined a large number of Ducks, Classification 

 from all parts of the world and not the Indian ones only, pattern"(ff ^ 

 has pointed out how important a clue to the determina- the primary 

 tion of Water Fowl is the pattern of the primaries*. j;'^'^^^''^- 



All the resident Ducks, he says, and those Ducks 

 the migrations of which are very limited or partial, 

 have the primaries uniform ivithont a pattern, e.g., in 

 the case of those birds with which we are here concern- 

 ed, the Spotbill has the primaries nearly uniformly 

 blackish and the Marbled Duck grey. 



All the higlily migratory and rapid-ilying Ducks 

 have the primaries vjilh the outer wh of a very dark 

 colour and the inner iv-h nf n drub colnv.r with a dark 

 tip, e.g., for our purposes, all the True Pucks. 



* The " I'riniaries " are the fir^t, ten or eleven quills of the wins?, 

 counting from tlie tip inwards, the first very u.inute and difficult 

 to discover. They nrisc i'lom the finger-ioints 'phalanges) and palm 

 (metacarpus). 



