PINK-HEADED DUCK. 277 



rather greyish on the vent and under tail covers : tail 

 brown ; the covers greyish black. 



The female is considerably smaller, and the head is 

 not so full of feathers. The head, neck, upper parts of 

 the body, and the wings are sooty black, darkest on the 

 crown : the sides of the head are marked with a small 

 oblong spot of white : the lower part of the neck is grey, 

 the feathers being tipt with white : belly dull white ; 

 but the the vent is cinereous : the outer webs of six of 

 the secondaries, and the tertials, are white; but the tips 

 of the latter are black : tail cinereous brown : bill and 

 feet brownish. The male measures sixteen inches in 

 length, but the female only fourteen and a half. 



The Pink-headed Duck. 



Anas caryophyllacea, Latham. 



Brown both above and beneath : head and part of the 

 neck pink : spot on the wings pale red or rufous. 



Anas caryophyllacea, Latham, Index Ornith. ii. 866. Pink- 

 headed Duck, Gen. Synop. Supp. 216. Gen. Hist. x. 343. 



Notwithstanding the number of years that has elapsed 

 since this remarkable species was first mentioned in the 

 Synopsis of Dr. Latham, we have never heard of a spe- 

 cimen being in this country, either alive or dead. If, 

 however, the information given to the doctor, and here 

 inserted, is correct, there seems no reason to doubt that 

 it might become an inhabitant of our menageries; for, 

 being found in the interior of India, we may presume 

 it is a freshwater species. A brown duck, with a pink- 

 coloured head, is a cast of colouring so peculiar, that its 

 possession is most desirable. Dr. Latham's account of it 

 is as follows ; — but whether it is a duck or a goose, or 

 of what modern genus it belongs to, remains for future 

 discovery. 



'^ Size of the black-winged whistling duck : length 

 twenty or twenty-one inches ; bill two inches and a 

 half long, a trifle bent at the point. Colour pale red, 

 T 3 



