THE GADWALL. 283 



Genus CHAULELASMUS, G. B. Gray. 



644. CHAULELASMUS STREPERUS. 

 THE GADWALL. 



Anas strepera, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 200 ; Bl B. Burm. p. 166. Chaulelasmus 

 streperus, Jenl. I>. Ltd. ii. p. 802; Dresser, Birds Eur. vi. p. 487, pi.; David 

 ft Oust. Oh. C?U'H<; p. 400; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 115; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 362; 

 Hume. $ Marsh. Game Birds, iii. p. 181, pi. 



Description. Male. Head and neck greyish speckled with brown, the 

 crown and hind neck more uniformly brown ; back and upper scapulars 

 dark brown closely vermiculated with fulvous - white ; longer scapulars 

 brown broadly edged with fulvous; rump and upper tail-coverts black; 

 tail pale grey edged with white ; lesser wing-coverts light brown stippled 

 with grey ; median coverts chestnut ; greater coverts black, the exterior 

 ones chestnut ; primaries and tertiaries ashy ; the earlier secondaries ashy, 

 the next broadly edged with black on the outer webs, the later ones pure 

 white on the outer web ; lower neck and breast dark brown, each feather 

 with a semicircular edging of white ; abdomen and vent white speckled 

 with brown ; under tail-coverts black ; sides of the body narrowly barred 

 with brown and white. 



The female has the whole upper plumage, breast, sides of the body and 

 under tail-coverts dark brown, each feather broadly edged with fulvous ; the 

 head and neck greyish streaked with brown, the crown and hind neck more 

 uniformly brown ; the wing wants the chestnut of the male, but there are 

 frequently traces of chestnut on a few of the feathers ; the middle greater 

 coverts are black, but not such a deep black as in the male ; and the middle 

 secondaries are white, forming a patch, but not such a large one as in the 

 male. 



Iris brown ; legs and feet orange ; bill in the male blackish, tinged with 

 reddish on the lower mandible, in the female brownish orange becoming 

 black on the tip, nail and culmen. 



Length 20 inches, tail 4, wing 11, tarsus T4, bill from gape 2. The 

 female is smaller, the wing being about 10 inches in length or even less. 



The Gadwall is said by Mr. Blyth to occur in Arrakan ; and as it is a 

 Duck of wide distribution, it is not unlikely to be common in that Division. 

 I have never shot it in Pegu ; nor has it been seen in Tenasserim. 



It inhabits the whole northern hemisphere from the tropic to the Arctic 

 circle, wandering inside this latter in places, and also approaching the 

 equator in small numbers. 



Wherever it may be found in Burmah it will be only as a winter visitor. 

 In India it arrives in October and leaves at the end of March. Like most 



