RHODONESSA. 425 



Upper mandible dusky orange-red, blotched with black at base 

 and tip and sparingly along commissure ; lower mandible pale 

 orange-yellow, blotched with black along the sides, nail at tip of 

 beak dusky pink ; irides crimson ; legs and feet orange-yellow 

 {Cripps}. 



Length of male 32 ; tail 6 ; wing 15 ; tarsus 2-4 : bill from 

 gape 2-9. Female : length 29 ; tail 5-5 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 2 ; bill 

 from gape 2- 8. 



Distribution. Assam (not rare in the Dibrugarh district), Ten- 

 .asserim, Malay Peninsula, and Java. The supposed occurrence of 

 this bird in Eastern Bengal appears to be doubtful, and a reported 

 capture in Singbhum requires confirmation. 



Habits, tyc. A shy resident bird, found singly, as a rule, about 

 sluggish streams and swamps in high forest. It is very scarce in 

 collections; even in the British Museum there are but three skins 

 from Assam and Burma, and two of what is believed to be a 

 .domesticated variety, the original A. scutulata, from Java. Nothing 

 is known of the breeding habits except that young birds are said 

 to have been shot on the Dhansiri Eiver in Assam. 



Genus RHODONESSA, Beichenb., 1852. 



This genus is distinguished by plumage more than by structure ; 

 it differs from all other Ducks in having a pink head and a dark 

 body. The sexes differ but little from each other. The egg is 

 peculiar and very short, subspherical in fact. The bill is lower at 

 the base than that of Sarcidiornis, but otherwise similar. The 

 bulba ossea at the lower end of the male trachea is very peculiarly 

 formed, being swollen on both sides and anteriorly (see Garrod, 

 P.Z.S. 1875, p. 153). 



Only one species is known. 



1586. Rhodonessa caryophyllacea. Ttie Pink-headed Duck. 



Anas caryophyllacea, Latham, Ind. Orn. ii, p. 866 (1790) ; Jerdon, 

 III. Ind. Orn. pi. 34 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 304 ; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 249 ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 800 ; Hume, N. Sf E. p. 644 ; Blyth, Birds 

 Bunn. p. 165 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 264 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232 ; 

 Hume, ibid. p. 492 ; id. S. F. viii, p. 501 ; Simson, Ibis, 1884, 

 p. 271 ; C. Sivinh. $ Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 137 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. 

 p. 404. 



Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, Reichenb. Natiirl. Syst. Voqel, p. ix, pi. 85 ; 



Ball, S. F. ii, p. 438 ; Hume, Cat no. 960 ; Hume | Marsh. Game 



B. iii, pp. 173, 435, pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix, p. 437; Reid, S. F. x, 



p. 81 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 284 ; Barnes, Birds 



Bom. p. 404 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 344 ; Oates in Hume's N. Sf E. 2nd 



ed. iii, p. 290 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Sue. vi, p. 21)0 ; Salvador*, 



Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 61 ; Baker, Jour. Bom. N. H. Sac. xi, p. 185. 



Ldl-sira, H. ; Golab Ldl-sir, Oudh ; Sdkndl, Beng. ; Dtimrdr, Dumdr, 



Nepal Terai and Tirhoot. 



Coloration. Male. Crown and sides of head, back and sides of 

 neck rosy pink, brightest on the occiput and nape, browner on the 

 forehead ; a band on the chin, throat, and fore neck, the body 



