DENDKOCTCNA. 431 



and rump blackish; smaller and median wing-coverts chestnut, 

 greater coverts and quills black ; upper tail-coverts chestnut ; 

 tail dark brown; lower parts light ferruginous, becoming pale 

 yellowish brown on the upper breast, and whitish on the vent and 

 lower tail-coverts ; flanks light brown, the long feathers with broad 

 whitish shaft-stripes. 



Younger birds have the under parts throughout very light brown. 



Bill, legs, and feet brownish blue, the nail of the bill nearly 

 black ; iris brown ; eyelids bright yellow (Oates). 



Length 17 ; tail 2 ; wing 7'5 : tarsus T75 ; bill from gape 1'9. 



Fig. 109. Head of D.javanica. ^. 



Distribution. A resident almost throughout India, Ceylon, and 

 Burma in suitable localities ; also in the Andaman and Mcobar 

 Islands, Malay Peninsula, Siam, Cochin, Southern China, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and Java. This Duck is very rare or wanting in the Hima- 

 layas and the Panjab ; it is of course absent from the desert region, 

 and in many parts of the country it is only found in the rains 

 generally, because the ponds and marshes are dry at other times. 

 It does, however, move about considerably at different seasons. 



Habits, fyc. This common and familiar bird is chiefly found 

 about well wooded and weedy ponds and marshes. It is not 

 generally seen on rivers, nor on large open pieces of water, and 

 it delights in trees, on which it often perches and roosts, and 

 mostly makes its nest. It keeps in flocks, sometimes large, during 

 the winter and spring, and these flocks are well known to duck- 

 shooters in India, for they fly round and round rather slowly, 

 uttering their peculiar whistling call, long after all other ducks 

 and teal, except the Cotton Teal, have deserted the water. 

 The Whistling Teal breeds in most parts of India and Burma in 

 .July and August : it either makes a nest of sticks in a tree, occupies 

 an old nest of a crow, heron, or cormorant, or builds in grass or 

 thorny scrub near the water's edge. In Ceylon the breeding- 

 season varies, being from June to August in the south, February 

 to April in the north-west of the island. From 8 to 14 white 

 eggs (usually 10 to 12) are laid, measuring on an average 1-86 by 

 1-49. The young are carried down to the water in the claws (or, 

 according to some observers, on the backs) of the old birds. The 

 flesh of this Teal is very poor eating. Whistling Teal are good 

 swimmers and divers, and Mr. Finn has observed them diving for 

 food regularly like Pochards. 



