430 ANATIDJE. 



No sanctity attaches to this Sheldrake in India, though there 

 are many traditions relating to it, but in Burma it is regarded as 

 an emblematic bird, and deserving of especial honour, and it is 

 .said to be sacred in Mongolia. It is an inferior duck for the 

 table. 



Genus DENDROCYCNA, Swainson, 1837. 



Bill of moderate size, raised at the base, nearly of the same 

 breadth throughout ; nail prominent, Suddenly bent down ; nostrils 

 about one- third the distance from base to tip ; wings broad and 

 rounded : tail short, rounded, of 16 feathers ; tarsus long and 

 stout, reticulated ; feet large. 



Nine species, distributed throughout the tropical regions of the 

 world, are described in Salvadori's British Museum Catalogue ; of 

 these two are found in India. They are not truly migratory. 



Key to the Species. 



<i. Upper tail-coverts chestnut ; wing about 7*5 .... D. javanica, p. 430. 

 b. Upper tail-coverts whitish ; wing about 9 D.fulva, p. 432. 



1589. Dendrocycna javanica. The Whistling Teal. 



Anas javanica, Horsfeld, Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 199 (1821). 

 Anas arcuata, pt., Horsf. Zool. Res. Java, text of pi. 65 (1824). 

 Mareca awsuree, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 168. 

 Dendrocygna arcuata, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 301 ; id. Ibis, 1865, p. 39 ; 



1867, p. 175 ; Stoliczka, J.A.S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Hume, N. fy E. 



p. 639 ; id. 8. F. i, p. 260 ; ii, p. 315 ; A. Anderson, Ibis, 1874, 



p. 222 ; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 472 ; Oates, S. F. v, p. 169 ; 



nee Cuv. 

 Dendrocygna awsuree, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 789; Godw.-Aust. 



J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 275. 

 Dendrocygna javanica, Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, p. 486 ; Dav. $ Wend. 



S. F. vii, p. 92 ; Ball, ibid. p. 232 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 311 ; Hume, Cat. 



no. 952; Doiff, S. F. viii, p. 372; Leaae, Birds Ceyl. p. 1069; 



Hume 8f Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 109, pi. ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 92 ; 



Butler, ibid. p. 436 ; Parker, ibid. p. 486; id. Ibis, 1883, p. 194 ; 1886, 



p. 188 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80 ; Hume, ibid. p. 417 ; Oates, B. B. ii, 



p. 273 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 398 ; Taylor, S. F. x, pp. 528, 531 ; 



Hume, S. F. xi, p. 341 ; Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 61 ; 



vi, p. 288 ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 284. 

 Dendrocycna javanica, Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, 



p. 616 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 156. 



Silhi, Silhdhi, H. ; Saral, Shareil, Beng. ; Hansrali, Uriya ; Horali, 

 Assam; Tingi, Manipur; Yerra Chillula, Tel. ; Yerrundi, Mai.; Chemba 

 Tar a, Tarn. (Ceylon) ; Saaru, Tatta Saaru, Cing. ; Si-sa-li, Burin. 



Coloration. Eorehead, crown, and nape brown, darker behind, 

 fulvous or rufescent in front ; sides of head (including supercilia) 

 and the upper neck very light brown, almost \vhite on the chin 

 and throat, hind neck darker ; back and scapulars dark brown, 

 with broad pale transverse rufous tips to the feathers ; lower back 



