438 ANATIDJE. 



Distribution. Resident throughout India south of the Himalayas, 

 and in Assam, Manipur, the Upper Irrawaddy Valley above Man- 

 dalay, and the Shan States, but not known to occur in Pegu or 

 Tenasserim. This Duck is found in Ceylon, but is not common. 

 It has not been met with outside the Indian Empire. 



Habits, <$fc. The Spotted-billed Duck, sometimes called the G-rey 

 Duck, is a freshwater bird, generally met with on tanks and 

 swamps in small parties of from six to a dozen in the winter, and 

 in pairs in the breeding-season. The food, flight, and voice differ 

 but little from those of the Mallard, And A. pcecilorTiynclia*Ls, in the 

 cold season, an excellent bird for the table. The breeding-season 

 varies with locality, but in Northern India generally it is from 

 July to September. The nest, of grass or rushes, is usually in 

 low dense cover near water, occasionally on a low branch of a tree ; 

 the eggs are greyish white, 6 to 12 in number, and measure 2-15 

 by 1-70. 



G-enus EUNETTA, Bonap., 1856. 



The generic characters are confined to the male, and are the 

 presence of a bushy nuchal crest, elongate sickle-shaped tertiaries, 

 and long upper and under tail-coverts equalling or exceeding the 

 tail-feathers in length. Fourteen rectrices. 



Sexes distinct. Females do not differ in structure from those of 

 Nettium. A single species. 



1594. Eunetta falcata. The Crested or Falcated Teal. 



Anas falcata, Georgi, Reise Russ. Reichs, i, p. 167 (1775) ; McLeod, 



S. F. x, p. 168, 

 Querquedula falcata, G. R. Gray, Gen. E. iii, p. 616 ; Hume, S. F. 



iv, p. 225 ; vii, p. 494 ; viii, p. 411 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., 



Aves, p. 701 ; Hume, Cat. no. 966 bis ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. 



iii, p. 231, pi. j Reid, S. F. x, p. 84. 

 Eunetta falcata, Bonap. C. R. xliii, p. 650 ; Scdvadori, Cat. B. M. 



xxvii, p. 218. 



Kola Sinkhur, H. (Oudh, teste Eeid). 



Coloration. Male. A white spot on the forehead, crown chestnut; 

 a band round the nape from eye to eye, including the mane-like 

 crest-feathers, metallic green ; lores and cheeks coppery bronze ; 

 chin, throat, and fore neck white, followed by a dark green 

 collar, and below that again a white ring round the lower neck ; 

 feathers of upper back concentrically marked with grey and white 

 bars which pass on the scapulars into fine vermiculation ; a jet- 

 exchange the same for the more sober livery of the female when assisting her 

 to take charge of the young; but in the case of the present species, and of 

 others in which the sexes are similarly attired throughout the year, there is no 

 reason for the double moult. It is much to be desired that this question should 

 be cleared up by the preservation of dated skins of both sexes collected at 

 intervals of about a month (in the breeding-season and immediately after, 

 about a fortnight) throughout the year. 



