276 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



coverts black; the secondaries glossed with bronze, the scapulars with 

 purple, the other parts with green and blue ; lower back grey ; tail umber- 

 brown. 



The female is very similar to the male in general appearance, but is 

 much smaller; the head and neck are more spotted with black; the 

 metallic gloss on the upper plumage is much reduced in amount, and the 

 whole rump and upper tail-coverts as well as the lower back are grey ; 

 there is no fleshy process on the upper mandible. 



Iris dark brown; bill and comb black; legs and feet dark plumbeous. 



Length 30 inches, tail 6, wing 15, tarsus 3, bill from gape 2' 6. The 

 female is much smaller, the wing being about 11 or 11 '5 inches. The 

 fleshy comb on the bill of the male is about 2 inches high in the breeding- 

 season, and very small and inconspicuous at other times. 



The Comb Duck is very abundant in suitable localities throughout Pegu. 

 I observed it in the Engmah swamp and also in the large marshes near 

 Payagalay, about thirty miles north of the town of Pegu ; and I have met 

 with it in small quantities near Kyeikpadein in paddy-fields. Capt. Ward- 

 law Ramsay noticed it at Tonghoo. Mr. Davison did not meet with it in 

 any part of Tenasserim ; but it will probably be found in that Division ; 

 and the same may be said of Arrakan, for Mr. Blyth remarks that it is 

 common in Burmah, showing, I think, that he had received it from various 

 quarters. 



It occurs throughout the Indian peninsula and Ceylon, and probably 

 also in the Indo-Burmese countries. 



This fine Duck is a constant resident in Barman, being found singly, in 

 pairs, or in small flocks of twenty or thirty individuals in all the larger 

 swamps, and at times even in paddy-fields. It is a tree-Duck, often 

 perching on trees and making its nest in the holes of trees or on the 

 larger branches. 



