16 INDIAN DUCKS 



black is generally very ragged, the colours running into one another, though 

 not fusing into an intermediate tint. _ 



The serrations in the upper mandible in the closed bill are not visible 

 when looked at from the side. 



Adult Male and Female. — Pure white, rarely showing a slight rufous- 

 grey wash on the feathers of the head ; this is probably due to immaturity. 



Young. — Wholly a light brownish-grey. 



Nestling'. — White down. 



Measurements. Adult Male. — Length GO inches, expanse 95, wing 2575, 

 tail 7'5, bill along culmen (including bare sjiace on forehead) 4;'5, from tip to 

 eye 5'IG, tarsus I'lG. Weight 19 lbs. {Hume). Total length about 5 feet, 

 wing 25'5 inches, tail 8"5, culmen 4'2, tarsus 4'2. {Salvadori). 



Female. — Length 52 inches, expanse 85, wing 23"5, tail 7'5, bill as above 

 4'5, to eye 4'84, tarsus 4. Weight IG'5 lbs. (Iliimc). 



A young bird killed in Marcli (in India'.') measured 44 inches in lengtli 

 and weighed 8'25 lbs. (Hume). 



The young have the bill a dull flesh-colour, with the tip and margins 

 black, which extends with advancing age until it leaves only an orange band 

 across the nostrils, and the bases of both mandibles very pale yellowish- 

 green or greenish-white. In the adult bird the bill has the terminal half 

 black, the base and margins of the maxilla yellow. 



Legs, toes and webs black ; irides deep hazel. 



Distribution. — The whole of northern Europe and Africa, extending 

 to Japan and Greenland. Burturlin gives its most northern breeding- 

 place as Verkhore-Kolymsk, 65° 4 J N.; south, it extends in winter to 

 southern Europe, Asia Minor, Persia, India and China. 



Occurrences in India. — (1) Head and feet now in the British 

 Museum, obtained in Nepal by Hodgson, 1829. (2) Head and feet 

 in the Bombay Natural History Society's Museum, shot by General 

 Osborn on the Beas river, Punjab, 6th January, 1900. (3) A skin 

 in the same museum presented by Mr. J. Crerar, and shot by him in 

 Larkhana district, Sind, on the 31st January, 1904. (4 & 5) Two 

 heads in the Bombay Museum presented by Colonel Magrath and 

 shot by Mr. M. Donlea out of a herd of seven, on the 10th December, 

 1910, near Dera Momin, on the Kabul river. 



In reference to General Osborn's specimen he writes : — 



" While duck-shooting with a friend on the Eiver Beas on the 

 6th January last, at a point just opposite Tulwara in the Hushiapur 

 district, we saw four wild Swans on the opposite side of the river. 

 As there was no means of crossing, and the Swans were too far and 



