ANAS. 



683 



lafted; secondaries the same, their outer webs rich bright green and form- 

 ing the speculum ; lesser wing coverts pale blue ; greater wing coverts dusky 

 brown, tipped with white, forming a bar across the wing ; tertials long and 

 pointed, pale blue on their outer webs, purplish black on the inner ones, the 

 tips of some of the elongated ones white ; abdomen rich chestnut brown or 

 brownish red ; lower tail coverts black, glossed greenish ; flanks chestnut 

 brown, the feathers finely vermiculated with dark brown ; bill black ; legs 

 orange ; irides yellow. 



Length, 19 to 20 inches; wing 9 to 10 ; tail 3^5 to 4; tarsus 1-2 to 1-4 ; 

 bill from gape 2-9 to 3. 



The female is slightly smaller, averaging 19 inches in length at the outside ; 

 wing 8 to 9. The head is pale reddish brown, with dusky shaft-streaks ; 

 breast pale brownish rufous, with dusky brown spots ; back dusky brown, the 

 edges and tips of the feathers paler and rufous white; lessor wing coverts 

 tinged with pale blue ; speculum green, and a white bar across the wing 

 as in the male. 



flab. Sind, Belochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Nepaul, Cashmere, Eastern 

 Turkestan, Punjab, N -W. Provinces and Oudh, Bengal, Central India, 

 Rajputana, Kutch, Guzerat, Concan, Deccan, South India, and Ceylon. 



Winter visitors to India, affecting all the lakes, marshes, ponds, &c., feed- 

 ing on worms, larvae, tadpoles, seeds, and young shoots of aquatic plants. 

 They are not naturally shy, as in village ponds they are frequently seen dab- 

 bling about, or standing in the shallow edge of ponds, while the inhabitants 

 are drawing water or bathing. 



Gen. Anas, Linn. 



Bill slightly longer than the head, of nearly uniform width throughout; 

 tertials long and pointed ; tail wedge-shaped ; nostrils near the base of the bill ; 

 middle tail feather curled. 



Anas boscas. The Mallard. 



1387- Anas bOSCaS (Linn.) t Bodd. P. E. pp. 776, 777 ; Gould, B. Eur. 

 Pi- 361 ; Jerd,, B. Ind. iii. p. 798; Str. F. i. p. 261 ; iv. p, 199 j Murray, 



