WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. qT 
brown, the eye dark, and the feet greenish yellow with 
black webs. 
The young birds are like the female, and so is the male 
when in wndrvess, except that he retains some green on 
the wings and the white patch on the quills. This bird 
is only about a foot in total length, with a wing of about 
half that, and an inch long bill and shank. It has been 
called the Goose-teal, Goslet, and Pigmy Goose, but 
wrongly, as there is nothing goose-like about it except 
the bill. 
The Cotton-teal inhabits the greater part of India, 
and extends through Burma and the Malay countries to 
China in one direction and Celebes in another. A large 
variety of it inhabits Eastern Australia, where also a 
distinct species is found. It is a resident bird, never 
leaving the country altogether; rare in Malabar, the 
Bombay Presidency, and Kattywar, and absent from 
desert Rajputana, Sind, and the Western Punjab. It 
is very abundant in Lower Bengal, but does not now by 
any means outnumber all the other Ducks in the 
Calcutta bazaar, as it did in Mr. Hume’s time. It pre- 
fers well-wooded country with plenty of small ponds 
and marshes: It is a very fast swimmer and excellent 
diver, though usually a surface feeder, pecking about 
more like a Coot or Water-hen than a Duck ; it will dive 
for food readily enough on occasion, but not very neatly. 
It is the most active flyer of all our waterfowl, being 
both swift and nimble; but it is a very poor walker, being 
although quite able to walk normally, curiously weak 
in the legs and unwilling to go far at a time; it perches 
freely. It builds in holes in trees and buildings, laying 
in July and August a dozen eggs or oftener less, ivory- 
white and very smooth. The young seem from native 
evidence quoted by Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker to be carried 
down in the feet of the old bird ; they are most beautiful 
and nimble little creatures, clad in dark-brown down 
with white markings. Cotton-teal moult in autumn, 
