TADORNIN.E. 399 



glossy black ; upper tail-coverts chesnut ; tail brown with slightly 

 paler edges ; lesser and median wing-coverts fine rich maroon- 

 red ; greater-coverts and all the quills dusky-black ; beneath, 

 the chin and throat albescent ; the neck whity-brown, passing 

 into brown, yellowish on the lower neck, and gradually merging 

 into the deep ferruginous or light chesnut of the whole of the 

 lower surface ; vent and under tail-coverts albescent. 



The Whistling Teal is very common in Sind, fairly common in 

 Central India and Rajputana, and not uncommon in Guzerat ; 

 in all these places, I believe, it to be a permanent resident ; 

 in the Deccan, where it is more or less rare, it only occurs as 

 a seasonal visitant. The nest is usually placed on the lower 

 limb of a largish tree, but occasionally old crow nests are utilized. 

 The eggs, ten to fourteen in number, are of a broad oval shape, and 

 are nearly pure white in color. 



They measure 1*86 inches in length by 1/48 in breadth. 



Dendrocygna fulva, Gm. 



953. D. major, Jerd. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 790 ; 

 Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 487; Murray's 

 Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 288 ; Game Birds of India, 

 Vol. Ill, p. 119. 



THE LARGER WHISTLING TEAL. 



Length, 19'5 to 201 ; expanse, 36 to 36-75 ; wing, 875 to 

 9 2; tail, 3 ; tarsus, 2'5 ; bill from gape, 2'4; weight, l-f- to 

 1 i| Ibs. 



Bill dusky-leaden, bluish at base; irides brown; legs and 

 feet pale leaden or lavender-blue. 



Head and neck chesnut, darker on the top of the head, 

 whence a dark line extends down the back of the neck ; chin, 

 throat, and foreneck pale ; in the centre of the neck there is a broad 

 patch of small, whitish somewhat hackled feathers ; upper part of 

 the back and scapulars deep brown ; the feathers edged with ches- 

 nut ; lower part of the back black ; lesser wing-coverts dark maroon ; 

 the other wing-coverts, wings, and tail, dusky black ; lower plumage 

 .chesnut ; under tail-coverts (and a few of the upper tail-coverts 

 also) yellowish- white ; the feathers of the flanks much lengthened, 

 chesnut on one side, and yellowish -white on the other. 



The Larger Whistling Teal is a rare seasonal visitant to the 

 Deccan, and occurs also in Sind. I can find no record of its 

 occurrence in any other portion of our limits. 



GENUS, Casarca, J3onap. 



Bill moderate, slightly raised at the base, depressed anteriorly, 

 of uniform width ; nail large ; laminae slender, very apparent ; 

 wings moderately long, when closed reaching to the end of the 

 tail, which is short and slightly rounded, of fourteen or sixteen 

 feathers ; tarsus moderate, stout ; toes long ; hind-toe lobed. 



