436 ANATID^E. 



After the breeding season the drake moults in June into a 

 plumage like that of the female : when the body-moult is complete, 

 the bird loses its quills and is for a time unable to fly. The 

 ordinary male plumage is reassumed by a second moult in 

 September. 



Female. Brown above, the feathers edged with buff; scapulars 

 and feathers of upper back with concentric buff bands ; sides of 

 head paler than crown, chin and throat brownish buff, unspotted ; 

 wing as in male ; underparts buff, with brown centres to feathers, 

 upper breast browner; tail-featheie brown, with whitish-buff 

 edges. 



Nail of bill black, remainder of upper mandible generally dull 

 olive, yellower at base ; irides brown ; legs and feet orange-red. 

 Sometimes the bill in females is black on the culmen, elsewhere 

 orange-yellow (Hume). Tail-feathers 20 in the male, 18 in the 

 female. 



Length of males 24 ; tail 3'5 ; wing 11 ; tarsus 1-8 ; bill from 

 gape 2-6. Eemales are smaller : wing 10; tail 3'3 ; tarsus 1-6. 



Distribution. Resident throughout the temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere, and breeding in Europe, Asia, and America, 

 some birds migrating to the southward in winter. The Mallard 

 breeds in the Himalayas, and especially in Kashmir, where it is 

 resident, and is, in winter, common in the Western Punjab and 

 Sind, not uncommon in the North-west Provinces, Oudh, and 

 Behar, and of occasional occurrence in Guzerat, the Central Indian 

 Agency, the Deccan, Bengal, and Northern Burma, but unknown 

 in Southern India, Ceylon, Pegu, and Tenasserim. 



Habits, <$fc. This, the common wild duck of Western Europe, 

 is generally found in flocks, small or large ; it haunts rivers, brooks, 

 lakes, marshes, or sea-coasts, and lives chiefly on vegetable food, 

 though it occasionally feeds on Crustacea, mollusca, frogs, or fish. 

 In the Punjab it is common on the banks of rivers. It is a swift 

 flyer, a fair walker, and an excellent swimmer and diver. It 

 breeds in Kashmir in May and the first half of June, and lays six 

 to twelve greenish-white eggs, measuring on an average 2'23 by 

 1-6, in a nest of dried grass or flag, lined with a little down. The 

 Mallard is one of the best of all ducks for eating, and is the 

 original source from which tame ducks are derived. 



1593. Anas pcecilorhyncha. The Spotted-billed Duck. 



Ind. Zool p. 23, t. xiii, fig. 1 

 Zool. i, pi. 67 ; Blyth, Cat. 

 Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 165 ; 

 "Hume fy Dav. 

 p. 699 ; Dav. 

 ibid. p. 492; 



fy Marsh. GameB. iii,p. 165, pi. ; Butler, S. F. ix/p. 437; Legge, 

 Birds Ceyl. p. 1073 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 81 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 325 ;. 

 Davison, ibid. p. 418 : C. J. W. Taylor, ibid. p. 466 ; J. H. Taylor, 

 ibid. pp. 528, 531 ; bates, B. B. ii, p. 282 ; Barnes, Birds Bom 



