1 6 Manual of the Game Birds of Itidia. 



in the two sexes. It is in other ways a 

 very anomalous Duck, one remarkable 

 feature of its economy being that it has 

 both a spring and an autumn moult. 



It will be seen how important this 

 pattern of the primaries is in determining 

 Water Fowl. I have not restricted my 

 examination of the colour-pattern of the 

 primaries to the Indian Ducks alone. I 

 have examined a large number of species 

 of Ducks from all parts of the world, and 

 it seems to me a character of the first 

 importance for the classification and 

 grouping of the Water Fowl. 



The colour of the axillaries and of the 

 speculum are also characters of much use 

 in discriminating the Ducks. The shape 

 and size of the bill, the shape of the tail 

 and the number of feathers of which it 

 is composed, the extent to which the 

 hindtoe is lobed, and the size of the feet, 

 are characters liable to great variation, 

 and little reliance can be placed on them. 

 They are generally of little use, and I 

 have seldom referred to them. 



The resident Ducks, and a few others 

 which have nearly abandoned the migra- 

 tory instinct, such as the Sheld-Ducks, 

 have the usual autumn change and no 

 other. The Cotton-Teal, but probably only 



