466 



to the base of the bill than to the tip ; lamellae coarse. The 

 wings are short ; the tail about half the length of the wing, 

 euneate, composed of 18 very stiff, narrow, pointed feathers ; tarsi 

 short ; feet large, hind toe broadly lobed. 



Seven species are known, widely distributed, but the majority 

 are peculiar to the (Southern hemisphere. One species is an 

 occasional visitor to India. 



1611. Erismatura leucocephala. Tlie White-headed Duck. 



Anas leucocephalus, Scop. Ann. I.mHist. Nat. p. 65 (1769). 

 Erismatura leucocephala, Blyth, Cat. p. 308 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game 



B. iii, p. 289 ; Hume, S. F. viii, p. 456 ; ix, p. 296 ; x, p. 158 ; 



St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 179 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 442 ; 



F. Finn, P. A. S. B. 1896, p. 62 ; Sherwood, Jour. Bom. N. H. 



Soc. xi, p. 150. 



Fig. 123. Head of E. leucocephala. . 



Coloration. Male. Crown black ; forehead, sides of head to 

 above eye, chin, and nape white ; a blackish ring round the neck 

 beneath the white, passing on the breast and sides into dull 

 ferruginous barred irregularly with black ; back, scapulars, rump, 

 and sides of body buff, more or less rufous, speckled and verinicu- 

 lated with black ; upper tail-coverts chestnut ; tail blackish (often 

 faded); wings brown, the coverts and the outer webs of the 

 secondaries speckled with buff ; lower parts from breast pale buff, 

 the dark bases of the feathers showing. 



Females and young males have only the chin, lower cheeks, and 

 a stripe from above the gape, running back under the eye towards 

 the nape, white, rest of the head black mixed with rufous ; the 

 tipper tail-coverts are like the rest of the upper parts, and the 

 breast is dull rufous without black bars. Otherwise the plumage 

 resembles that of adult males. Some specimens are much more 

 rufous than others. 



Bill pale ultramarine (in life) in adult males, dull plumbeous in 

 females and young birds ; irides dark brown ; legs plumbeous 

 black. 



Length about 18 ; tail 3'5 (3 to 4'5) ; wing 6-3 ; tarsus 1 ; bill 

 from gape 1'9. 



Distribution. From the Mediterranean to Central Asia, generally 

 resident. Stragglers have been found from Western Europe to 

 India. Specimens have been obtained in Kashmir, also at Peshawar, 



