386 WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 
bone ; his note is low, musical, and quite unlike that of 
any other Duck, resembling the syllabes “ wugh-ah !”’ 
The flight is hight and easy, and the habits those of a 
true surface-feeder, though there can be little doubt that 
the real relationships of this bird are with the Pochards 
on account of the colour of the wing and the structure of 
the windpipe. It is poor eating as a rule, and being 
so very striking and interesting a bird, should, I think, 
be perpetually protected ; though specimens might be 
legitimately captured for home fanciers, who have never 
yet, I believe, succeeded in breeding it. 
The Marbled Teal. 
Marmaronetta angustirostris, BLANFORD, Faun. 
Brit. Ind., Birds, Vol. IV. p. 454. 
VERNACULAR NAMES :—None known. 
This is a small, slightly-built Duck, with a short full 
crest and a long narrow parallel-sided bill. Its peculiar 
coarsely-mottled mealy-looking plumage will at once 
distinguish it from any other Duck; it shows two 
colours only, greyish brown and dirty white, with the 
exception of a wash of silver grey on the outside of the 
pinion-quills. The darker colour predominates above, 
and the lighter below, and there is no wing-bar ; the bill 
is grey and black, the eyes dark, and the feet dark 
Om grey: 
The female only differs from the ma/e in being smaller; 
duller, and with less crest. The male is about a foot 
and-a-half long, witha wing of about eight inches, shank 
just under one and-a-half and bill just over two. 
This Duck, which looks like a semi-albino of some 
other species, inhabits Southern Europe, especially 
Spain, Northern Africa, and South-Western Asia. In 
India it is chiefly known as a winter visitor to Sind, but 
it has occurred in the South-West Punjab, Bahawal- 
