396 PLECTROPTERIN^E. 



Bill orange-yellow to orange ; nail blackish ; irides deep brown ; 

 legs and feet bright orange. 



Head white, with two blackish bars on the occiput and nape ; 

 back of neck hair-brown, sides of neck white ; upper plumage 

 very pale ashy, the feathers edged with whitish and tinged with 

 pale reddish brown ; lower back and rump pure pale ashy-grey ; 

 sides of the rump and upper tail-coverts whitish ; tail grey, white 

 tipped ; wing-coverts pure ashy ; quills grey, dusky towards the 

 tip, and gradually becoming darker on the secondaries ; tertials 

 brownish-grey ; beneath, the chin and throat white ; neck brown- 

 ish-ashy, passing gradually into cinereous on the breast, whitish 

 on the abdomen ; vent and under tail-coverts white ; flanks cinna- 

 mon- brown with pale edgings. 



The Barred-headed Goose is very common in Sind during the 

 cold season. 



It only occurs occasionally in other parts of the district. 



FAMILY, Anatidae. 



Bill flat, broad, laminated at the sides. 



SUB-FAMILY, Plectropterinae. 



Wings generally with one or more spurs on the shoulder ; bill, 

 in most, furnished with a boss or protuberance at the base ; legs 

 in general long ; plumage glossed black and white. 



GENUS, Sarcidiornis, Eyton. 



Bill lengthened, of nearly equal width throughout ; that of the 

 males usually furnished with a naked, compressed, fleshy pro- 

 tuberance on the culmen ; wings with one or more tubercles 

 or blunt spurs at the shoulder ; first and second primaries sub- 

 equal and longest ; legs lengthened ; feet large ; tarsus with sub- 

 quadrate scales of large size ; plumage glossy black above ; 

 sexes nearly alike in color, but the males much larger than 

 the females. 



Sarcidiornis melanonotus, Penn. 



950. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 785 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 27 ; Deecan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 

 p. 436 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 286 ; Game Birds 

 of India, Vol. Ill, p. 91 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; 

 Ibis, 1885, p. 136. 



THE BLACK-BACKED GOOSE, OK COMB DUCK. 



Nukta, Hin. 



Length, , 31 "5, ? , 26'4 ; expanse, <?, 55, 9 , 46 ; wing, <?, 15'37, 

 ?,ll-3; tail, c?> 6'5, ?,4; tarsus, <?, 2'87, $, 2'2 ; bill from 

 gape, g, 2-8, ? , 221 ; weight, 3, 5| Ibs, $ , 3 Ibs. 



Bill and comb black ; irides dark brown j legs greenish- 

 plumbeous. 



