528 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



across the Pink-headed Duck, and I can hardly think the bird 

 can be found anywhere in Oudh.* Mr. Anderson, who was 

 for many years Deputy Commissioner at Baraich, and is a good 

 sportsman and naturalist, tells me he has never seen the 

 duck. 



I was five years at Kheri, then one of the best sporting 

 districts on this side of India, and in those days I had the 

 opportunity of shooting a great deal more than is now possible, 

 and I certainly never came across the Pink-headed Duck. 



Red-headed Pochards, Mallard, Pin-tails are all more or less 

 common on big waters in the north and north-eastern parts 

 of Oudh. Even the large Bustard (Eupodotis edwardsi) was 

 then procurable in two places in the Kheri District. 



Maurice Tweedie, 



Major. 



I seem to have neglected to furnish any description of 

 762 lis.— Alattdula pispoletta, Pall. 



Of this I quote Dresser's description, as it applies to the birds we get here, but 

 I must note that this is not apparently what Radde and v. Homeyer call pispolettt 

 (a much greyer bird with much longer tail and longer tertiaries,) but what v. 

 Homeyer named (J. f. O. 1873, 197) heinei. 



According to him, no mean authority, the true pispoletta has never been obtain- 

 ed in Europe, while heinei, which is clearly what Dresser calls pispoletta, occurs 

 equally in Southern Russia and Western Asia. It is this latter form that we 

 obtain commonly in the plains of the Punjab and the interior of the Himalayas ; 

 whether the much greyer form with the long tail, say 2 - 6 or more and the longer 

 tertiaries also occurs within our limits, I cannot say. It has been sent from Chinese 

 Thibet, but I have not seen it from our own territories. Dresser says : — 



Adult Male. — Upper parts dark earth grey, the feathers having a central dark 

 mark ; quills dark brown, edged with dirty white ; secondaries darker in the centre 

 and lighter towards the edge, the inner secondaries much shorter than in C. brachy- 

 dactyla, reaching only to within about an inch of the tip of the first primary ; 

 wing-coverts dark brown, broadly edged with light earth brown ; outermost tail- 

 feathers white, having a black line on the inner webs, the next in order blackish 

 brown on the inner webs, white on the outer webs, the remainder blackish brown, 

 imperceptibly edged with pale earth-brown, the centre ones washed with light 

 brown ; above and below the eye a pale, dull, buffy white stripe ; chin white ; 

 sides of the neck spotted with dark brown ; auriculars marked with brown ; under 

 parts white, on the breasts and flanks striped with dark brown ; beak dull horn- 

 colour; legs light brown; iris dark brown. Total length, 6 - 6 inches; culmen, 0"5 ; 

 wing, 38 ; tail, 2-3 ; tarsus, # 85 ; hind toe with claw, 06. 



" Female. — Similar to the male, but somewhat smaller in size." 



* I possess two specimens shot near Lucknow itself. — Ed. 



End of Vol. VII. 



