RED-CRESTED WHISTLING DUCK. 331 



M. Vieillot says this species has been taken, though 

 rarely, in France. It has been included in two or three 

 Histories of the Birds of Germany. It is mentioned by 

 M. Necker in his published notice of the Birds of Geneva ; 

 has been found more than once in different parts of Swit- 

 zerland and Provence ; has been seen at Genoa ; and is 

 included by M. Savi in his Ornithology of Italy. Our 

 countryman Willughby, it will be recollected, obtained 

 this Duck in the market at Rome.* It is stated to be 

 found in Sicily all the year, laying from six to eight green- 

 ish-white eggs, measuring two inches and a half in length, 

 by one inch and three-quarters in breadth. The bird is 

 most abundant during winter, and is considered to come 

 there from the East. The Zoological Society has received 

 specimens from North Africa, sent by Sir Thomas Reade, 

 and it was formerly noticed in Barbary, by Shaw, in his 

 published Travels in that country. It is found in Austria, 

 Hungary, and Turkey. Russian naturalists have observed 

 that it is very common in winter at Bakou, on the Caspian 

 Sea. According to Dr. Latham it inhabits the vast lakes 

 of the desert of Tartary ; is sometimes seen on the great 

 lakes lying on the east side of the mountains of the Uralian 

 chain, but not elsewhere in Siberia. Mr. Gould mentions, 

 in his Birds of Europe, that he has received specimens 

 from the Himalaya, and Colonel Sykes includes it among 

 his Birds of the Dukhun, but states that it is rare in 

 that part of India. It has been found in the north- 

 western part of India ; B. Hodgson, Esq. includes it in 

 his Birds of Nepal, and Mr. Blyth has obtained it in the 

 vicinity of Calcutta. The food is stated to be shell- fish 

 and aquatic vegetables. 



In the adult male the beak is vermilion red ; the nail 

 white ; the irides reddish-brown ; the whole of the head, 

 * Willughby, Orn. p. 364. 



