BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



643. ANAS PCECILORHYNCHA. 

 THE SPOTTED-BILLED DUCK. 



Anas poecilorhyncha, Forst. Ind. Zool. p. 23, pi. 13 j Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 799 ; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 643 ; Bl B. Burm. p. 165 ; Butler, 8. F. iv. p. 29 ; 

 Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 699 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 489 ; Hume, S. F. 

 vii. p. 507, viii. p. 116 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game Birds, in, p. 165, pi. ; Legge, Birds 

 Ceylon, p. 1073. 



Description. Male and female. The whole head and neck whity brown 

 minutely streaked with dark brown, the streaks most numerous on the 

 crown, hind neck, and on a band reaching from the bill to the gape ; the 

 whole lower plumage pale fulvous-white spotted throughout with brown ; 

 the under tail-coverts uniform glossy brown ; back, scapulars, lesser and 

 median wing-coverts brown, each feather edged with pale fulvous ; greater 

 coverts subterminally white and broadly black at the tips ; secondaries 

 black tipped with white, the later ones with a patch of glossy green on the 

 outer webs forming a speculum ; tertiaries chiefly white on the outer webs, 

 the white forming a band in continuation of the white on the greater 

 coverts ; rump and upper tail-coverts nearly black ; tail dark brown nar- 

 rowly margined with pale ashy brown. 



Bill black, the base of the upper mandible at the forehead red, the tip of 

 both mandibles yellow, greater in extent on the upper than on the lower ; 

 legs and feet red ; claws black ; iris brown. The young bird wants the 

 red at the base of the upper mandible. 



Length 24 inches, tail 5, wing 11, tarsus 1*9, bill from gape 2*6. The 

 female is smaller, the wing being about 10 inches. 



The Spotted-billed Duck is said by Mr. Blyth to occur in Arrakan and 

 Tenasserim ; but I have never met with it in Pegu, nor did Mr. Davison 

 shoot it in Tenasserim. We must therefore conclude that it is very rare. 



It inhabits the whole Indian peninsula and Ceylon, where it is a resident 

 species, and it occurs in Independent Burmah. In China it is replaced by 

 A. zonorhyncha, which has no red spot at the base of the bill, and differs 

 also in other slight respects. 



This large Duck appears to be found in pairs or small flocks in tanks 

 and swamps ; and in India it is considered one of the best for the table. The 

 nest is usually placed on the ground, occasionally on a low branch of a 

 tree ; and the eggs are generally eight in number and white. 



