a4 WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 
The wing is pointed and absurdly short and small, 
the primaries not showing when it is closed ; the tail 
varies in length, but the feathers are noticeably very 
narrow and stiff, and the tail-coverts, usnally so full in 
Ducks, short and scanty, giving the tail the appearance 
of being stuck in. The short legs are set far back, and 
the feet enormous, the middle toe being fully twice the 
length of the shank. The plumage is equally charac- 
teristic, being finely pencilled above with black on a 
reddish ground in bothsexes, and silvery buff below, the 
dark bases of the feathers showing. Some specimens 
are much redder than others. 
The.male has a white head with a black crown, anda 
blackish neck ; the upper tail-coverts are chestnut. 
In the female the head is blackish, with the throat and 
a stripe under the eye white ; the tail-coverts are pen- 
cilled like the back. It is apparently about the size of 
the male. 
Young birds resemble the female. 
The male’s bill is sky-blue, that of the female and 
young greyish black ; the eyes are dark and the feet 
grey with black webs. 
The length is about fifteen inches, bill about two, 
shank about one, and wing only about six. 
The Stiff-tail is found from the Mediterranean to 
Central Asia, and is generally resident. Stragglers have 
occurred from Western Europe to India. It has been 
found in Kashmir, at Peshawar, near Ludiana, Delhi, 
and Roorkee, at Mardan, in Gilgit, in the Calcutta bazaar 
(twice to my knowledge) and near Hardoi. The bird 
shot in the last locality, by Captain E. D. White, was in 
iull moult in January, and quite unable to fly, so that 
this species 1s doubtless resident in India, as the Indian 
migratory waterfowl are through their moult long 
before the time. In habits the Stiff-tail resembles a 
Grebe rather than a Duck. It is more ready to dive 
