WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 67 
The bill is grey and black, eyelids French-grey, eyes 
dark, and feet French-grey, or at any rate much paler 
than in the Small Whistler. 
The Large Whistler is about twenty inches long, with 
a wing about eight and-a-half, and bill and shank about 
two and-a-quarter. 
it has a very remarkable distribution, being found in 
Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar, and in Cen- 
tral and South America, as well as in India south of 
the Himalayas, Ceylon, Pegu and Toungoo. In the 
Madras Presidency and the Deccan it is very rare, and 
fairly common in Lower Bengal ; but over India gen- 
erally itisscarce. Itsrarity may be due to the abund- 
ance in India of the Small Whistler, which, I have obser- 
ved it usually fearsand givesway to. It hasa stronger 
andmorerapid flight than its relative, is said to be better 
eating, and occurs in small flocks. It builds in trees ; 
the eggs are larger than those of the small species. 
The Wandering Whistler. 
Dendrocycga arvcuata, SALVADORI, Brit. Mus. Cat., Birds, 
oly OeVNE .ps 153. 
Is to a great extent intermediate in size and plumage 
between our two Indian species. The head has a distinct 
dark cap, reaching down to the eyes and continued as a black 
streak down the back of the neck; the rest of the head and 
neck are dun, passing into rich bay on the underparts and 
flanks, which latter are bordered by splashes of cream-colour 
forming a line along each side, and there is a patch of cream 
colour on each side on the upper tail-coverts. The back is 
black with chestnut edgings to the feathers, and the wings black 
with a maroon patch on the “shoulder ;”’ but the most readily 
noticeable point is that the breast is spotted, though somewhat 
indistinctly, with black. The bill is jet-black, eyes dark, and 
feet dark slate-colour. 
The length of this Duck is about seventeen inches, with the 
bill and shank nearly two, and closed wing eight and-a-half. 
It has a very wide distribution in the East Indies and reaches 
the Islands of the Pacific, ranging from Java through the Islands 
