NETTA. 455 



orbit and extending some distance behind it ; lores, sides of head 

 and neck, chin, throat, and fore neck whitish, regularly and 

 minutely streaked with brown ; upper back and scapulars greyish 

 brown, each with a subterminal darker bar or spot and with a 

 large greyish-buff spot at the end; the pale spots are large on the 

 .scapulars ; lower back and rump similarly coloured, but more 

 uniform ; upper tail-coverts with a dark brown subterminal spot 

 and a yellowish-buff tip ; tail-feathers greyish brown, middle pair 

 darker with whitish tips ; wings greyish brown outside, the outer 

 webs of both primaries and secondaries frosted with grey, which 

 becomes silvery on the primaries towards the tips ; lower parts 

 .sullied white, with transverse brown bars on the feathers of the 

 breast, sides of body, lower abdomen, and lower tail-coverts, and 

 sometimes with faint markings on the middle of the breast and 

 abdomen. 



The female only differs in being smaller, with less crest, and 

 with the eye-patch and other markings duller. 



Bill bluish-grey, black on culmen and tip ; irides brown ; legs 

 and feet dusky olive (Hume). 



Length of male 18-5 ; tail 3-25 ; wing 8-25 ; tarsus 1/4 ; bill 

 from gape 2-1. Females have the wing about 8. 



Distribution. Southern Europe, especially Spain, Northern 

 Africa and South-western Asia. The Marbled Duck breeds in the 

 Canary Islands, Spain, Morocco, and Palestine, and is a common 

 winter visitor throughout Sind, arriving about the end of October 

 and leaving in April. It has also been observed near Dera 

 Ghazi Khan in the South-western Punjab, in Bahawalpur and 

 Northern Guzerat, and occasional occurrences in Eajputana, the 

 North-west Provinces, and Oudh, and in one case near Calcutta, 

 have been recorded. 



Habits, #c. This small duck keeps in Sind to rush-covered 

 swamps, in which it is found in large numbers, but it does not, 

 as a rule, when disturbed, rise in flocks, as most ducks do, but 

 two or three at a time. Lord Lilford describes its call as a low 

 croaking whistle, but Mr. Hume says it also gives a distinct but 

 hoarse quack. It is not known to breed in Sind, but Captain 

 Butler obtained eggs, very probably of this species, from near 

 Orrnara on the Baluchistan coast, and he shot a young bird at 

 Karachi on September 27th. The eggs were cream-coloured, and 

 measured on an average 1 % 85 by 1/4. 



Genus NETTA, Kaup, 1829. 



The Diving Ducks, including the Pochards*, Scoters, Eiders, 

 j&c., which obtain their food principally by diving beneath the 

 water, not merely as the true ducks do, by searching in shallow 



* Pronounced Pockards. These birds are also known in parts of England 

 as Pokers. 



