218 INDIAN DUCKS 



Female. — Head brownish-buff, with dark centres to tlie feathers ; tlu'oat 

 and uhin pale : neck the same, specliled brown ; upper parts brown, the 

 feathers edged white or butty-white, and scapulars with a few bars of the 

 same ; the white tips of the greater secondaries and greater coverts form 

 two distinct bars, but there is no speculum : quills dark-brown, the inner 

 ones narrowly edged white and all paler on the inner webs : lower parts 

 dingy white, more or less tinged buff', or even rufous, and streakeil and 

 centred brown. 



Colours of soft parts.— Irides brown ; bill and legs like the male, but 

 duller, and, as far as I know, the bill never has a blue tinge. I have one 

 female with a distinctly orange tinge to her legs, showing as a sort of 

 mottling on tiie shanks. 



Measurements.— Length about 20 inches, wing 9'75 to 10'25, tarsus 

 about I'd, tail about 4 to 5'25, bill at front 2'0 to 21, from gape about 

 the same. 



" Length 20 to 22o inches, wing yS to 10'2, tail from vent 4'2 to 5'5, 

 tarsus rir> to 17, bill from gape 21 to 2;35. Weight 1 lb. 2 ozs. to 

 1 lb. U ozs." (Hume.) 



Young Male.— Has the wing like that of the adult male, but is other- 

 wise coloured like the female. The first male plumage to be assumed is 

 that of the back, which may often be seen in the transition-stage between 

 the mottled colouration of the female and the fine stippling of the male ; the 

 lower plumage is tlie next to change, though the broad mottled plumage of 

 the lower flanks is often retained for some time ; and, finally, the dark head 

 and white neck of tlie adult male are assumed. Young females are very 

 thickly speckled and mottled on the lower surface. 



Young l)irds of both sexes appear to have legs and Ijills a uniform dusky. 



" Young' in Down have the same pale spots on the upper parts as those 

 of the Mallard, but the white on the throat and belly is slightly suffused 

 with grey instead of buff', and in addition to the dark line passing through 

 the eye, a second line passes from the lores below the eye to the nape." 

 (Secboltiii.) 



Distribution. — Salvador! gives the habitat thus: — 



" Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the northern parts, and 

 migrating southwards to Northern Africa, India, Ceylon, China, and 

 Japan, and in America as far as Panama and Cuba." 



There is practically no portion of the Indian Empire which the 

 Pintail does not visit; Hume excluded it from South Tenasserim, 

 but it has now been recorded theuce more than once, though it 

 appears to be very rare there. Davidson reported it as rare in the 



