110 ANATTME 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, the Garganey breeds 

 over a large area of Temperate Europe, especially in the 

 Eastern section, also in Asia. It winters in Southern 

 Europe, North and Tropical Africa, India, China, and Japan, 

 visiting the Phillipines and other neighbouring islands in 

 the Tropics. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head and back 

 of neck, dark brown; cheeks and throat, rich reddish-brown, 

 pencilled with short thin lines of white ; extending from the 

 front of each eye to the nape of the neck is a noticeable 

 white band, by which the Garganey may be distinguished 

 at some distance ; back, dark brown with a lighter edge to 

 the feathers ; wing-coverts, chiefly bluish-grey with a green 

 speculum margined by two white bars ; scapulars, long 

 and pointed, black in colour, each with a central line of 

 white ; primaries and tail, brown ; chin, black ; breast, light 

 brown, each feather being edged with a dark brown 

 crescent ; abdomen, white ; flanks, coarsely pencilled with 

 transverse lines of black on a white ground ; under the tail 

 these dark lines shorten into spots. 



Adult male, post-nuptial or eclipse. Resembles the adult 

 female plumage, but the alar speculum is much brighter. 



Adult female nuptial. Head more coarsely spotted with 

 shades of brown ; face-line much less distinct, smaller than 

 in the male and yellowish rather than pure white ; back, 

 rather similar in colour to the drake, but with a bolder 

 pattern ; wing-coverts, chiefly greyish-brown ; chin, white ; 

 breast, chequered in different shades of greyish-white and 

 brown ; sides and flanks, chequered light and dark brown. 



Adult winter, male and female. Similar to the respec- 

 tive nuptial plumages. 



Immature, male and female. -^-Resembles the adult female 

 plumage. 



BEAK. Black. 



FEET. Greenish-grey. 



IBIDES. Hazel. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 16 in. Female smaller. 



WING 7-8,, 



BEAK ... .. ... 1*5 ,, 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... 1'3 ,, 



EGG ... 1-85 x T35 in. 



