WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 6G 
our Ducks for their graceful build, with long shanks and 
wings, nearly square tail and light body. They swim 
high in the water, and walk and run quickly and grace- 
fully, the legs being set well forward. They are largely 
land feeders, omnivorous in diet, and build in holes. 
They are courageous and intelligent, and inclined to 
associate in pairs rather than in flocks. They are 
migrants, but the Brahminy builds in our limits in 
the Himalayas. The sexes are very similar in plum- 
age, and the young closely resemble them. 
The Brahminy Duck or Ruddy Sheldrake. 
Casarcarutila, BLANFORD, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 
Vol. IV.p 428. 
VERNACULAR NAMES :—Chakwa (male), Chakwi 
(female) ; Suvkhab, Lal, H.; Mungh, Sind ; 
Buegrt, Beng. : : Sarza, Chakrawak, Mahr.; Bas- 
sana Chituwa,Tel. ; Kesav-pandia, Pandahansa, 
Uriya; Nuyr-bathoo, Nuir-kol1, South India; 
Hintha, Burmese. 
The Brahminy has an ordinary-shaped, rather short 
bill. The general colour of the plumage is rich chest- 
nut, varying from this to buff occasionally ; the wings 
are white, black and bronze-green, as above described ; 
the rump and tail black, and the head and neck buff. 
The male has in summer a black ring at the base of the 
buff neck, and the female has the fore part of the head 
_ white ; otherwise they are alike. The bill, eyes, and feet 
are all dark. 
The male Brahminy is about two feet en with a 
fitteen-inch wing, and shank and bill about two and-a- 
half. The female is smaller. 
This species breeds in Southern Europe, Northern 
Africa, and Western and Central Asia, especially in Tibet 
and Yarkand, migrating in winter to India, Assam, 
