54 WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 
This Duck is found asa residentin Assam, the Malay 
Peninsula)and) \java, in, which Jase “country, jemac 
believed to be domesticated. Unlike most of the 
other Ducks I am including in this section, it is an inve- 
terate percher and haunts water surrounded by jungle. 
Mr. E. Stuart Baker, our chief authority on this bird, 
has given some evidence tending to show that this species 
lays creamy-white eggs in holes of trees, and young 
birds aresaid to have been shot on the Dhansiri river 
in Assam, where this Duck is not rare in the Dibrugarh 
district; they keep in pairs or small flocks, and have a 
loud trumpeting call. They are very easily tamed, 
and Mr. Baker found his specimens would dive and 
chase live fish under water, a strange habit fora bird 
of this type, a good walker and quite at home on land. 
The Pink-head. 
Rhodonessa_ caryophyllacea, BLANFORD, Faun. 
Brit. ind. Birds» ViolsgiV.ipaa2s. 
VERNACULAR NAMEs :—Lal siva, Golab Lal-sir, 
Hind. ; Saknal, Bengal ; Dumrar, Umar, Nepal 
Teraiand Tirhoot; Golabi siv, Calcutta dealers. 
Whatever may be the case with the Wood-duek, it is 
quite certain that the Pink-head stands very much alone 
among Ducks. It is not very remarkable as io form, 
being a shght-built Duck, with large but not long wings ; 
a close-feathered, thin and angular-looking head and 
neck, and an ugly-shaped bill, very flat at the tip, anda 
with the ridges lining it not well developed, but with 
a large nail. 
Its colouring, however, is unique, not only among 
Ducks but birds in general. The male’s plumage is 
generally of a glossy sepia, with buff wing-bar, and the 
pinion-quills also shaded internally with buff ; the head 
and neck, with the exception of a broad black band down 
