292 INDIAN DUCKS 



Description. Adult Male. — ''Head and upper neck dark glossy-green, 

 the feathers on the crown and nape somewhat elongated ; chin and throat 

 black ; a roundish white patch on the cheeks near the base of the upper 

 mandible ; lower neck, breast, and under parts white ; on the sides of the 

 vent the feathers have the bases slaty-grey showing through ; feathers of 

 the flanks edged above wdth black, the longer ones on both weljs : back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts black ; inner scapulars black, the outer ones 

 viihite, longer scapulars with a white band about the middle ; wings black, 

 with a large white patch covering the central wing-coverts and the outer 

 secondaries ; the inner secondaries l)lack ; under wing-coverts greyish-black ; 

 tail blaekish-gre>' : bill bluish-ljlack ; irides golden-yellow; feet orange- 

 yellow ; the webs dusky. 



Colours of soft parts.— '■ Bill black in the male .... tlie eyes are 

 yellow and the feet yellow with black webs. ' (/<'. Finn.) 



" The irides are bright yellow in the females and young males, reddish 

 or orange-yellow in old males, white or very pale yellow in the quite young 

 birds. The naked edges of the eyelids reddish-dusky ; the legs and feet 

 vary from pale yellow in the young to intense orange in the old ; the colour 

 is always bright and pure; the webs (including that of hind-toe), nails, 

 and a spot on each of the toe-joints, black or dusky. The bill of the old 

 male is liluish or greenish-ljlack, rather duskier and duller coloured in the 

 old females and young, and occasionally in these latter, often in the former, 

 and very rarely in the old males, with a larger or smaller yellowish-red or 

 orange spot or bar near the tip of the upper mandible, which in some forms 

 the terminal band at the tips of hutli mandibles, never, however, including 

 the nail, which always remains black or dusky." [Huinc.) 



Measurements. — "Total length about is inches, wing 8'9, tail 4, culmen 

 r4, tarsus 1'45." (Salvaduri.) 



Female. — " Head and upper neck hair-brown ; a dull white collar round 

 the lower neck ; upper parts blackish ; mantle, scapulars, and upper wing- 

 coverts with pale greyish edges; breast greyish, with the edges of the 

 feathers whitish : lower parts white ; sides and Hanks dull grey, the feathers 

 edged with white : median wing-coverts brown tipped with whitish, the 

 greater ones white tipped with brown; outer secondaries white; the white 

 on the wing is defined by the brown band at the tip of the greater coverts ; 

 quills dusky brown : tail dull greyish ; bill brownish-lilack, in some specimens 

 the tip, except the nail, is yellow ; irides and legs and toes as in the male. 

 Total length 17 inches, wing 7'7, culmen 1'35." (Salcndon.) 



Colours of soft parts.— "The bill is blackish in the female and young, 

 sometimes with a yellow patch at the tip." (F. Finn.) 



Measurements. Females.—" Length lo'7 to 1(;'5 inches, expanse 2G 3 to 

 28, wing 7'5 to 8'25 ; tail from vent y'O to 3'4, tarsus 1'22 to 1'35, bill from 

 gape l'r2 to 1'19. Weight 1 lb. 7 ozs. to 1 lb. 14 ozs." (Hnmc.) 



Young in first plumag'e resemljlo adult females, l)ut are duller in colour; 

 the pale collar round the neck is much more obscure and the grey feathers 

 on the breast have white margins. 



