The Pink-headed Ducks. 287 



and in Upper India. Jerdon records it 

 from Madras, though he never saw it in 

 the flesh there. Specimens have been 

 obtained in the Calcutta bazaar, which 

 has yielded more ornithological rarities 

 than any single place in India. Colonel 

 Irby tells me he met with it, and this 

 can be relied on. But many people in 

 Bengal have told me that they had shot 

 it in various places ; nevertheless, when- 

 ever I could test these statements, I 

 never found that any such Duck had been 

 killed lower in Eastern Bengal than 

 Maldah. The birds called Pink-headed 

 always turned out to be Red-crested 

 Pochards. 



" The country mentioned on the north 

 of the Ganges which I have referred to as 

 the home of this Duck is alluvial, and 

 consists of vast, extensive, and much- 

 neglected plains, studded at considerable 

 intervals with small poor villages, inter- 

 sected with very deep clear streams, all 

 running to the Ganges and abounding in 

 crocodiles. These plains are difficult to 

 cross on foot in the dry season, except by 

 paths which cannot be called roads; 

 elephants are generally used by all but 

 the poor to travel with across these wastes, 

 which are often inundated when the 



