424 



feathers &c., placed in a hole in the stem or a depression 

 between the larger branches. The eggs, laid in July, August or 

 September, are ivory-white, very close-textured, 7 to 12 in number, 

 and they measure about 2*41 by 1*72. In Ceylon this Duck is 

 said to breed in February and March. This is not one of the best 

 ducks for the table, though good at times. 



Genus ASARCORNIS, Salvadori, 1895. 



This appears to resemble Sarcidwmis both in structure and 

 plumage, and differs chiefly by having no knob on the bill of the 

 male. It is also distinguished by having the lower parts chestnut 

 instead of white. In this it resembles Pteronetta hartlaubi, an 

 African duck, the generic distinction of which from Asarcornis 

 appears open to doubt. There is only one species of Asarcornis. 



1585. Asarcornis scutulatus. The White- winged Wood-Duck. 



Anas scutulata, S. Mull. Verhand. Land- en Yolk. p. 159 (1839-44) ; 



Hume, S. F. viii, p. 158. 

 Sarcidiornis (?) leucopterus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xviii, p. 820 (1849) ; 



id. Cat. p. 302. 

 Casarca leucoptera, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 793 ; Goihc.-Aust. J. A. S. B. 



xliii, pt. 2, p. 176; Blyth, Birds Bunn. p. 105; Hume fy Dav. S.JF. 



vi, p. 489. 

 Casarca scutulata, Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 176; 1870, p. 176 ; Hume, 



Cat. no. 955. 



Asarcornis scutulata, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 60; Baker, 



Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. xi, p. 181. 

 Deo-hdns, A.'.sani. 



Rg. 105. Head of A. scutulatus. %. 



Coloration. Head and neck white, speckled with black, more 

 thickly on the crown and hind neck ; lower neck blackish brown, 

 glossed with green all round, passing above into the olive-brown 

 of the back, scapulars, rump, tail, and primaries ; bend of wing 

 and upper and under wing-coverts white ; greater secondary 

 coverts blue-grey, broadly tipped with black ; secondaries blue-grey 

 on outer webs ; tertiaries brown, the first with a black border and 

 about half of the outer web inside the border white ; lower parts 

 brown tinged with rusty red. Sexes scarcely differing except in 

 size ; back in female less glossy, and the head more or less tinged 

 with ochreous. 



