SPATULA. 451 



chin and throat white ; lower fore neck and upper breast blackish, 

 with whitish edges to the feathers ; wing-coverts greyish brown, 

 sometimes ashy in old birds ; speculum wanting, or merely a wash 

 of greenish bronze on the secondaries between the two white bars, 

 formed, as in the male, by the ends of the secondaries and of 

 their greater coverts ; breast and abdomen white, more or less 

 sullied and spotted towards the vent, under tail-coverts, and flanks. 

 Young males resemble the females. 



Bill blackish brown, paler beneath ; irides brown ; legs and feet 

 plumbeous to greenish ( Oates). 



Length of male 16; tail 2*7; wing 8; tarsus !! ; bill from 

 gape 1*8. The female is rather smaller, wing about 7*25. 



Distribution. The Garganey breeds throughout a great part of 

 the north temperate zone in Europe and Asia, and passes the 

 winter in North China and Southern Asia as far east as the 

 Philippines and Celebes. It is found at that season throughout 

 India, Ceylon, and Burma in suitable areas. 



Habits, dfc. This is one of the earliest ducks to arrive in 

 Northern India, being often seen in large numbers at the end of 

 August and beginning of September, and staying after most of the 

 other migrants, in many places until the beginning of May, or 

 even later. It is almost always in flocks, often large, which keep 

 much during the day to the edges of large tanks and swamps, or, 

 late in the season, the banks of rivers, generally huddled together, 

 and which feed chiefly at night. The food of this Teal is chiefly 

 vegetable ; the flight is swift, though not equal to that of the 

 Common Teal, and the call is a harsh quack. It is probable that 

 Garganeys breed in the Himalayas, as birds have been seen there 

 in summer, and they must occasionally lay in the plains, for 

 young birds half-fledged were caught by Col. Irby in Oudh, 

 and others were brought to Col. Tickell at Moulmein. Eggs, 

 at first supposed to belong to this bird, but subsequently 

 referred to the Marbled Duck, were taken by Captain Butler near 

 Ormara on the Baluchistan coast. In Europe the Grarganey lays 

 6 to 13 creamy white eggs, each measuring about 1*87 by 1*37, in 

 a grass nest lined with down, placed amongst rushes near water. 

 Eor the table this is a good bird, though not equal to the Common 

 Teal. 



Genus SPATULA, Boie, 1822. 



This genus is readily distinguished by its disproportionately 

 large spatulate bill, its long lamellae, and its blue-grey wing- 

 coverts. The bill is longer than the head, depressed, twice as 

 broad near the tip as at the base, and the sides of the upper 

 mandible are much turned down near the tip. The lamellae are 

 not only very long, but very closely set. Wings and tail pointed. 

 Tail-feathers 14. 



Four species are referred to Spatula in Salvadori's Catalogue : 

 one is Australian, one South African, and one South American ; 

 the fourth, a widely ranging migratory bird, occurs in India. 



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