PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
‘* How TO KNOW THE INDIAN DUCKS.’’ 
THE present little work is substantially a reprint of a 
series of articles, which appeared in the Aszan from 
November 1898 to June 1899, with a few additions and 
alterations ; and I am much indebted to Mrs. Targett, 
the proprietress of that journal, for permission to 
reproduce the series in book-form. 
My excuse for doing so is, that having for years taken 
an interest in the birds with which it deals, and having 
had, from my connection with the Indian Museum and 
my opportunities of keeping an eye on the Calcutta 
market, the privilege of recording during the past six 
years an usual number of rarities, I have felt impelled 
to put before the public a little handbook which may 
prove useful to those who are less fortunately situated. 
I can at least claim, I think, to have made my diagnoses. 
simple and plain, and to have succeeded in keeping 
almost entirely free from technical terms. 
The General Synopsis of the Indian Ducks, which 
forms Appendix I, and the Index of the work, is more 
than has been attempted by any previous writer in this 
field ; and the succeeding Table of colours of Full-plu- 
maged Males, if read with any attention, should serve 
the purpose of the identification of such nearly as well 
as a series of plates ; for young birds and females, even 
plates are hardly sufficient without diagnoses or des- 
criptions. 
1 must, in conclusion, express my obligations to the 
writers of other works dealing with this subject, and in 
