446 ANATIDjE. 



Butler, ibid. p. 438 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 82 ; Davidson, ibid. p. 326 ; 

 Oates, B. B. ii, p. 278 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 408 ; Hume, 8. F. 

 xi, p. 345 j Salvador*, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 227. 



Peasan, Patdri, Pharia, CJtota-Ldlsir, H. ; Cheyun, Nepal; Parow, 

 Sind. 



Fig. 115. Bill of M. pcnelope. f . 



Coloration. Male. Forehead and top of head buff, rest of head 

 .and neck dull chestnut, more or less spotted with greenish black ; 

 chin and sometimes throat chiefly or wholly dull black ; back, 

 scapulars, rump, sides of breast, and flanks vermiculated black and 

 white ; some of the longer tail-coverts black ; tail-feathers blackish 

 brown; quills brown, outer webs of secondaries green, forming a 

 speculum, broadly tipped black, outer web of last secondary 

 white, outer webs of tertiaries black edged with white, and the 

 shafts white ; primary and smaller coverts greyish brown, re- 

 maining coverts white ; greater secondary coverts black-tipped ; 

 lower neck and upper breast deep vinaceous red, lower breast and 

 abdomen white ; lower tail-coverts black. 



After the breeding-season the male moults into a dress much 

 resembling the female, except that the head and neck are dull 

 chestnut spotted with black, without the buff patch; upper 

 breast and flanks dull ferruginous. Young birds have a similar 

 plumage. 



Female. Head and neck above brown, with fulvous bars or edges 

 to the feathers, beneath rufescent speckled with brown, lower fore 

 neck almost entirely brown ; upper parts brown, the feathers with 

 whitish or pale rufous edges ; wings and tail brown, green 

 speculum generally wanting; secondaries tipped white and last 

 secondary with a white outer web ; the greater and some of the 

 median coverts tipped white ; breast and abdomen white ; under 

 tail-coverts brown, with white edges or bars. 



Bill plumbeous blue, black at the tip ; irides red-brown ; legs 

 dusky lead (Jerdon). In females the bill and legs are duskier 

 than in the male. 



Length 19 ; tail 4 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape T7o. 

 Females are very little smaller than males. 



Distribution. Europe, North Africa, and Asia, breeding in the 

 colder regions and wintering in the South. An irregular but 

 fairly common migrant to India and Burma, not recorded from 



