NETTAPODINA, 397 
Head and neck white, spotted with glossy black ; the top of 
the head and back of the neck mostly black ; interscapulars and 
scapulars black, glossed with purple; back ashy-grey, becoming 
dusky on the rump; the upper tail-coverts glossy-green ; wing- 
coverts glossed green ; quills black ; tail black ; all the lower parts 
pure white. The female is much smaller, less brightly colored, 
more spotted on the neck, and she wants the fleshy boss at the 
base of the bill. 
The Nukta or Comb Duck is more or less generally spread 
throughout the district. In Sind it isa mere straggler, and in 
the Deccan it is a far from common seasonal visitant, but in 
Guzerat, Central India, and Rajputana it is a permanent 
resident, breeding towards the end of the rains, in holes in trees. 
The eggs, usually twelve in number, (Mr. Anderson speaks of 
finding forty in a nest) are oval in shape, and are close and compact 
in texture, and resemble polished ivory both in color and appear- 
ance. 
They measure 2°3 by 1:7. 
SuB-FAMILY, Nettapodinee. 
Of small size ; bill small, high at the base. 
Genus, Nettapus, Brandt. 
Bill small, high at the base, gradually narrowing in front ; the 
lamellee short, distant concealed ; nostrils small near the base; 
wings rather short; tail short, rounded, of twelve feathers; tarsus 
short ; feet long; hind-toe short ; claws short and curved. 
Nettapus coromandelianus, Gm. 
951.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 786; Butler, Deccan ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 436; Guzerat, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IV, p. 27; Swinhoe and. Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, 
Ast 
: THE Corton TEAL. 
3. Length, 12°62 to 135; expanse, 20°5 to 24; wing, 6:25 to 
675; tail, 2°82 to3:25; tarsus, 1; bill, 1 to 1:25; weight, 8 to 
11 ozs. 
@. Length, 12:5 to 12°75; expanse, 21 to 22; wing, 6°25 to 
6:37 ; tail, 28 to 3; bill from gape, 1 to 12; weight, 6°2 to 9 ozs. 
Bill black; irides crimson; legs and feet from light yellowish 
to dirty sap-green. 
Top of the head black; back, scapulars and wings richly 
glossed with purple and green, the purple prevailing on the back 
and scapulars;the wing-coverts and base of the quills green ; 
rump blackish in the middle, white at the sides ; upper tail-coverts 
cinereous brown with pale mottlings; tail blackish-brown ; 
primary quills with a large white patch tipped with black 
on their terminal half, the white gradually diminishing in 
extent; the secondaries only tipped with white; tertials pure 
