134 INDIAN DtrCKS 



Measurements.—" Total length 24 to 26 inches, wins 13. tail 5'2. 

 culmen 2'4, tarsus 2."' {Salradon.) 



Colours of soft parts.— In adults the bills are deep-red, the nail dusky, 

 the irides Ijrown. and the legs and feet tiesh-pink to flesln -red, often more 

 or less creamy on the front of the toes and tarsi. 



" fjength 23'5 to 25'2o inciies, expanse 41 to 46, wing 12'"j to i3'6, tail 

 from vent 475 to 5'5, tarsus 2'1 to 2'3, bill from gape 2'2 to 2'4. Weight 

 2 lbs. to 2 ll)s. 14 ozs." (Hiiiiie.) 



Female. — Differs from the male in being less brightly coloured, having 

 no knob at the base of tiie bill, and in being smaller. 



Measurements.—" Length 20'S to 22 inches, expanse 3!) to 42, wing 

 1175 to 124, tail from vent 4'2 to 4'J, tarsus 1'95 to 2'07, bill from gape 

 2'1 to 2'2. Weight 2 lbs. to 2 lbs. 2 ozs." (Hume.) 



Young birds at the age when they arrive in India are duller-coloured than 

 the adults, have the bills a dull brick-red, and the feet livid-fleshy. 



Young birds of the year "in August have the bill flesh-coloured, the 

 liead and neck Ijrown, chin and front of the neck white, interscapulars 

 brown, wing-coverts white, inner secondaries white, edged with chestnut ; 

 primaries black, speculum becoming green, all tlie under-surface white, legs 

 flesh-colour." {Yarrell.) 



Nestlings in down " are dark brown above and white below, the white 

 on the underparts extending to tiie forehead, sides of the head and neck, 

 wings, scapulary region, and sides of the rump." (Seebohtii.) 



Distribution. — During the summer the habitat of this bird extends 

 from the British Isles throughout the whole of Northern Europe as 

 far south as Central Germany and the south of the Caspian Sea in 

 Eussia, to South Siberia, Turkestan, Northern China, and Japan. 

 In the winter it ranges south to Northern Africa, South Asia as far 

 as Northern India, South China, Japan and Formosa. 



In India it is confined entirely to the northern portion, and even 

 there it is by no means a common visitant, though it is common in 

 Afghanistan and not rare m Baluchistan. Hume gives its southern 

 linjit as the twenty-second parallel, and it extends as a rare visitant 

 through Sind, the Punjab and the North-west Provinces, and Oudh. 

 Whitehead, Magrath, Logan and Hume all record it from Kohat. 



Prom Central India it has been recorded by Young, who saw 

 three specimens on a tank about forty miles south of Neemuch in 

 1891-9'2. Betham records it from Poona. In Bengal its occurrence 

 is rare: it has been ol)tained once or twice near Calcutta, and 

 Mr. Pinn writes to me : — 



