426 . ANATID^E. 



above and below, and the tail chocolate-brown ; minute whitish 

 specks on the feathers of the mantle ; wings brown outside, except 

 the edge which is whitish, and the secondaries which are pale fawn 

 with white tips ; primaries brown on outer, pale fawn on inner 

 webs ; tertiaries with a green gloss ; wing-lining pinkish white. 



Female duller ; head paler pink ; chin and throat pale like sides 

 of head and neck, the pink passing gradually into the brown of 

 the body ; middle of crown and nape brown ; no gloss on the 

 tertiaries; wing-lining whitish. 



Young birds resemble the female except that the head and neck 

 are duller and browner and the lower parts paler. 



Bill reddish white, rosy at the base and bluish at the tip ; irides 

 fine orange-red; legs and feet blackish with a tinge of red 

 (Jerdori). 



Length 23'5 ; tail 3-5; wing 11; tarsus 1-9; bill from gape 

 2*25. No difference in size between the sexes. 



Tig. 106. -Head oi' K. caryophyllacea. \. 



Distribution. Fairly common and resident in Upper Bengal, in 

 the districts of Purneah, Maldah, and Bhagalpur, and in Tirhoot ; 

 not common, but found throughout Assam, Manipur, the whole of 

 Bengal, Orissa, the Northern Circars, Oudh, and the North-west 

 Provinces, and to be met with as an occasional straggler as far 

 west as Delhi, Mhow, and Ahrnednagar, and south to Madras. 

 On the east this Duck has been recorded from north of Bhamo, 

 but nowhere else in the Irrawaddy valley, nor is it known to occur 

 in Tenasserim. It is peculiar to India. 



Habits, fyc. The Pink-headed Duck haunts ponds and swamps 

 thickly overgrown with reeds and aquatic plants, and, as a rule, sur- 

 rounded by forest or grass jungle. In such places this species may 

 be found throughout the year, in small flocks of from 4 to 10 or 

 occasionally 20 to 40 in the cold season, and in pairs from April 

 to September. The flight is swift, and the rosy under wiog- 

 coverts make this species easily recognizable. R. caryopliyllacea 

 breeds in June and July, and lays about 9 white, nearly spherical 

 eggs, measuring on an average 1'78 by 1'66, in a circular nest of 

 dry grass and feathers, hidden in a tuft of high grass. Jerclon 

 says that this bird is excellent eating, but other observers, with 

 better opportunities for judging, condemn its flesh as inferior ; 

 Simson considers it worse than that of the Brahminy Duck or the 

 Whistling Teal. 



