ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 843 



occurrence ia any part of British Burmah. I neither saw it 

 nor heard of it in Manipur. 



[This, hitherto rare, Wood Duck is commoner in the Dibru- 

 garh district than is supposed, but, from its retiring habits and 

 the nature of the country it affects, is seldom seen. It is a per- 

 manent resident, frequenting lonely weedy pathars in dense 

 forest, and far away from villages. 



Length. Expanse. Tail, Wing, Tarsus. Bill from gape. Weight. 



Male. 27-1-1881 31-50 56-25 7-20 14.S0 2-25 2'85 Slbs. 14 ozs a pair 



F. 17-2-1881 29-25 47 50 7 13 62 205 2-86 4„ 2 ' ■) shot to- 



Male.n.2.\mi 32-40 5140 760 1510 2-2o 3 04 6 „ 6 ,, J getber. 



Irides crimson ; legs and feet orange yellow, tinged dusky, 

 which latter colour is wanting in the female ; claws horny 

 brown ; bill, lower mandible, pale orange yellow, blotched with 

 black along the sides ; upper mandible dusky orange red, 

 blotched with black at tip and base, and sparingl)? along 

 commissure, greenish about the nostrils ; nail at tip of beak 

 dusky pink. 



Food, principally vegetable matter with a few small pieces of 

 pebble. The ovaries of No. 2 showed signs of the breeding 

 season approaching, and the testes of No. 3 were the size of 

 kidney bean seeds, say | inch long. When cooked they have a 

 very muddy flavour. — J. R. C] 



Again Mr. Eden has lately informed me of his having shot 

 956. — Tadorna cornuta^ S. G. Gm., near the Mirzapoor Tea 

 Estate in Sylhet, and Mr. Forsyth has reported it from the 

 Brahmaputra near Dhubri. Beyond these facts I know 

 nothing of its occurrence in Assam, Sylhet or Cachar. I did not 

 see it, nor does it I believe occur, in Manipur, where Damant 

 also, who paid a good deal of attention to the water birds, 

 never observed it, and it does not, I believe, extend so far south 

 as any part of British Burmah. 



957.— Spatula clypeata, Lin. 



Scarcely seen anywhere in Manipur except at the Logtak, 

 lake, and even there they were not in any great numbers. 



This species occurs throughout Assam right up to and 

 even a little beyond Sadiya, as also in Sylhet and Cachar, but 

 they are rare in the latter district. It does not extend that I 

 know of to any part of British Burmah, though Anderson found 

 it not uncommon further north in Independent Burmah. 



[Rather scarce in Dibrugarh, where they are seen in swamps,- 

 sometimes in those alongside of villages, and in company 

 of the tame ducks.— J. R. C.] 



