QUERQUEDULA QUERQUEDULA 227 



The colours of the soft parts tlie same as in tlie male. 

 In some females the l)ill is similar" (to the males): "in some, 

 apparently adult, it is a blackish-plumheous above, dull plumbeous below." 

 illi(m,'.) 



Measurements.— Length about 15 inches, wing about 7'-2.5, tail 2T), bill 

 from gape 1'7, tarsus 1, bill at imse 0'51 broad, at tip 0'60. 



" Length 14'8 to 15'5 inches, expanse 23'0 to 25'5, wing 7 to 7'3, tail 

 from vent 2'9 to 3'5, tarsus I'O to ri5, bill from gape 17 to 1'85. Weight 

 i) to 14'75 ozs. (commonly about 12 ozs.) " (Hume.) 



I have a female in my collection which weighed 1 lb. 1 oz., and has 

 a wing of 7'6.5 inches. 



The young males are similar to the female, but are darker, have more 

 brown on the under parts, the speculum is more defined, and tlie coverts 

 a purer grey. 



Males in post-nuptial plumage resemble the females, but have the 

 wing, except the scapulars and innermost secondaries, of the usual colour. 



" The Downy Nestling resembles that of tlie Mallard, but is smaller, 

 and has a broad unbroken buff streak above the eye and a well-defined 

 dark streak tlirough tlie eye." (Yancll.) 



Distribution. — The general habitat of the Garganey may be said 

 to be the Palaearctic region, imt it is an eastern, not western form ; 

 it has been obtained in North America and Greenland, but its home 

 is Northern Europe and Asia in the summer, and Southern Europe, 

 Northern Africa (as far south as Shoa, Somaliland), and Southern 

 Asia in the celd weather. 



Outside India in the winter it is to be found throughout 

 Southern Europe and Northern Africa, is very common in Egypt, 

 and ranges through Asia Minor and Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, 

 Southern China, Japan, the Philippines, Borneo, Java, etc. 



In Japan, Seebohm says ; — 



"The Garganey is a winter visitant to all the Japanese Islands, 

 Ijut appears to be nowhere common." 



Hose and Everett both obtained specimens in the Bornean 

 Islands, but it would appear to be a rare straggler there. 



In India it occurs practically everywhere, from the extreme 

 north to the extreme south. As regards its distribution in Ceylon, 

 Legge says : — 



" Found in the extreme north about the Jaffna Peninsula, on the 

 swamps of the Island of Delft, and on the west coast down to 



