42 INDIAN DUCKS 



colour deepens to deep orange-ved or light-red. The legs and feet vary like 

 the hill from lemon-yellow to a dull_oi'ange. The joints, toes, and webs 

 are almost invariably mottled with dull-greenish, and patches of the same 

 colour are to be found on the tarsus itself. The toes are always dark. 

 Irides brown and blood-red in old birds. 



Weight 74 lbs. to 9j 11:)S. when in good condition. An old male in 

 captivity, and very fat, weiglied 9; lbs. ; but wild birds seldom weigh more 

 than 8i lbs. 



In old males all the spots and the black of tlie upper parts are glossed 

 with green, and the bird in life looks a brilliant metallic green when in the 

 sun. The gloss is green at the tip of each feather with a subtip of purple. 

 The colour of the lower parts varies very much, both in depth of colouring 

 and in the extent of the black mottling. In birds when freshly moulted 

 the colour is usually a rich red-ochrebrown, and the black mottlings — con- 

 fined more or less to the tips of tlie feathers — rather extensive. In faded 

 plumage, the lower parts are a pale dull earth-brown, with but little tinge 

 of red, and practically no black at all. 



In the same way, liy about July or August, the whole of the upper 

 plumage becomes bleached, and tlie gloss almost or quite disappears. 



I think very old males become more white about the head and neck, 

 more especially round the eye. A very fine male which was in my posses- 

 sion for some years became quite white for a space all round the eye and 

 down the front of the neck. 



Measurements.— Length 26 to 30 inches, wing 14'3 to ir/.S, tail 5 to 7 

 (according to condition), culmen 2'3 to 2'6, tarsus 2"2 to 2'4. 



The Female does not differ conspicuously from the male, and birds in 

 their first plumage are hardly distinguishable ; on the whole, it is not 

 so highly coloured or quite so highly glossed, and perhaps has less black 

 on the lower parts. The difference is, however, one only of comparison, 

 and a duck in good plumage is far more highly glossed and coloured than a 

 male whose colours have begun to fade. 



Colours of soft parts.— The colours of the soft parts are siaiilar to 

 those of the male, but paler and duller ; the bill is usually of a pale dull 

 lemon, very rarely with an orange tinge, and never with this tinge at all 

 strongly developed ; the black mottlings resemble those on the bill of 

 the drake, and vary to the same extent. In both sexes I have seen 

 Ijills the ground-colour of which was almost obliterated by the spots, 

 and others again in which there were only a few small spots near the 

 tip and base. 



The base of the upper mandible is never swollen or red in colour. 

 Irides arc brown, never, I lliink, red-brown, and certainly never lilood-red. 



Measurements.— Wing, 12 to 14 inches, tail 5 to 7, culmen 2'2 to 2'4, 

 tarsus 2'1 to 2'24. Weight 4f to 6t lbs. 



It does not seem necessary here to quote other authors in reference 

 to coloration, size, weight, etc., as a very large number of these birds 



