OUERQUEDULA. I9l 



Hah. — Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N.-W. and Central 

 Provinces, Oudh, Bengal and throughout Western and Central India, rare in 

 Southern India and Burmah, and not yet recorded from Ceylon. In Kattia- 

 war, Rajputana, the Deccan and Concan it is not uncommon during the winter 

 months. It is considered excellent eating for the first two months after arrival, 

 but after this the llesh is said to become of a muddy flavour and unpalatable. 



Gen. Querquedula, Slcph., Gray, Gen. B. iii. p. 6i6. 



Bill of uniform width, as long as the head, and slightly raised at the base ; 

 nail horny, hooked and narrow ; lamellce not apparent ; wings long, second 

 quill longest ; secondaries long and pointed ; tail wedge-shaped. 



231. Querquedula Crecca {Linn.\ Bod. Tab.P.E.^.^^i,^-, Gould, 

 B. Eur. pi. 364; Jerd., B. Jnd. iii. p. 806 ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi, p. 507, pi. ; 

 Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, ^-c, Sind, p. 235 ; Oa/es, B. Br. Burin, ii. p. 285 ; 

 Murray, Avif. Brit, Jnd. ii. p. 692, No, 1395. Anas crecca, Linn., Syst. 

 Nat. i. p. 204 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 1083 ; Hume, Game Birds Ltd. iii. 

 p. 206. {Kardo, Sind; Moorghabi, Hind.) — The Common Teal. 



Forehead, crown, face, cheeks, throat and upper neck in front rich chestnut 

 brown; chin black ; a narrow dark line round the base of the bill, followed by 

 a white or buffy one on the side, which meets a similar coloured superciliary 

 stripe, and another under the eye ; behind the eye, between the hind superci- 

 liary and lower eye-streak is a broad glossy green, or dark green patch, which 

 meets on the back of the neck ; breast rufescent or white, tinged with reddish 

 and spotted with black ; upper abdomen white ; lower abdomen in some 

 minutely barred with brownish ; flanks barred with brown or blackish brown ; 

 upper back and scapulars marked with undulating white and black transverse 

 bars ; lower back dark brown, with faint traces only of paler transverse bars ; 

 tail hair brown or dusky brown, the feathers edged with white ; under tail 

 coverts black, the feathers on the sides creamy yellow; primaries dusky brown, 

 edged on their outer webs and tipped darke'r ; first six secondaries velvet black 

 on their outer webs ; next four or five forming the speculum glossy green, and 

 followed by the black outer web of the first tertial ; lesser and median 

 coverts dusky or greenish brown ; greater coverts the same and lipped with 

 white or yellowish white, forming a border to the speculum above ; bill black, 

 or brownish black ; irides brown ; legs and feet greyish or plumbeous. 



Length. — 14'5 to 15*75 inches; wing 7 to 8 ; tail 2*9 to 3*5. 



The female has the head, neck and upper part dusky brown ; the feathers 

 edged with white or fulvous white on the head and neck and lunated on the 

 back; speculum as in the male, but slightly duller; chin and throat white, 

 with black spots ; breast and flanks white and spotted with dark brown ; 

 abdomen white ; under tail coverts W'ith brown streaks. 



Length. — 13*5 to 147 inches ; with a wing of 6-5 to 7*5. 



