180 INDIAN DUCKS 



Colours of soft parts. — Maxilla dark slaty-brown, black or brown ; 

 mandible paler and yellowish or reddish on the gonys and tip ; iridcs dark 

 brown ; legs yellow, brownish-yellow to dull orange : claws almost black. 



" Legs and toes orange-red, less bright after the summer moult ; 

 claws black ; webs dusky orange-red." {Hume.) 



Measurements. — Length 19'5 to 21'5 inches, wing lO'o to 1175, tail 

 3'1 to 4'3, tarsus about 1'5, bill at front 1'90 to 2"00 and from gape 2'05 

 to 2'25. Weight 1 lb. 7 ozs. to 2 lbs. 4 ozs. 



Female. — General colour above l^rown, the feathers with buff or rufous 

 margins, and the head and neck more or less spotted and streaked on a 

 light ground ; the scapulars unmarked dark-brow^n ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts brownish-black ; wings as in the male, but the chestnut, if not 

 altogether absent, is present only on the outer webs of some of the median 

 coverts ; below, the breast and sides are pale-rufous, sometimes rather 

 darker, spotted with brown ; under tail-coverts and feathers about vent 

 the same ; remainder of lower parts white, more or less tinged with rufous. 



Colours of soft parts. — Iiides and legs the same as in the male: bill 

 dull-orange to yellowish-brown, the culmen and tip brown. 



Measurements.— Length about 18 to 20'1 inches, wing 9 to 10 (102, 

 IlHinc), tail SO to i'O (3'7 to 4'5 Hume), tarsus 1'37 to l'-42, bill at front 

 rs to 1'95 and from gape 1"95 to 2'15. Weight about 1 lb. to 1;1 lbs. 



Young- in first plumage.—" Closely resembles the adult female, but 

 there is no chestnut or black on the wings, the white on the secondaries 

 is dull, and the whole of the feathers on the under parts have obscure, 

 ill-defined, brown centres." [Salvadort.) 



Young in Down are like those of the Mallard, "but there is a more 

 pronounced golden tinge on the throat and cheeks, the streak through 

 the eye is more defined, and there is a small dark spot at the junction 

 of the mandibles, which the mallard has not." (YaireU.) 



After the breeding-season the drake assumes a plumage similar to 

 that of the duck, returning to his full-dress attire before the winter 

 has fairly set in, though a few males may still be found in the female 

 garb as late as the middle of November. 



Distribution. — Outside India the range of this fine duck may be 

 said to 1)6 the Northern Hemisphere. It breeds practically right 

 across its habitat in the sub-Arctic regions, and in the winter 

 ranges down to Northern and Central Africa, and perhaps even 

 further south, almost the whole of Southern Asia, and again as far 

 south as Mexico and Jamaica in America. 



Within India, it is easier to say wliere it is not found rather 

 than to enumerate all those places in which it does occur. Eoughly 



