412 NOTES. 



In the female Gadwall the entire visible portions of the later 

 secondaries are pure white, the terminal portions of their larger 

 coverts, black. 



In female /a/ca^a, the visible portion of all the later seconda- 

 ries are black, with a metallic green reflection, narrowly tipped 

 with white, and the terminal portions of their greater coverts 

 are white. 



If these distinctions are borne in mind, there will be no diffi- 

 culty in discriminating the females of the Gadwall and Falcated 

 Teal. 



I may add that the female Gadwall is the larger bird of the 

 two, with a wing of at the least 9*6, against 9'0 in the Falcated 

 Teal. 



Although there is no record of the fact, it seems to me 

 highly probable that the European Great or Solitary Snipe 

 (Gallinago major), which certainly occurs in Persia, wall also 

 prove to occur in Sindh, the Western Punjab, Affghanistan, and 

 Kelat. Indeed I have heard tales of huge Snipe being shot 

 in these parts, which I am inclined to suspect refer to this 

 species. 



Though much larger than the Common Snipe, weighing 

 from 7 to 9 ozs., or even more, with a wing of 5 '5 inches, the 

 bill is a trifle shorter and slenderer than in the Common 

 Snipe. The bird is a fan-tail, like the Common Snipe, not a 

 pin-tail; but it has the axillaries very broadly and regularly 

 barred black and white, as in the pin-tail, only more broadly. 



The upper plumage is very similar to that of the Common 

 Snipe, but all the wing-coverts, especially the primary greater 

 coverts, are much more conspicuously tipped with pure white, 

 and the whole of the front and sides of the neck and entire breast 

 are very distinctly spotted with dark brown, not blurred and 

 clouded, as in the Common Snipe. 



In the fresh bird the weight and the length of wing would 

 generally suflice for the immediate identification of the spe- 

 cies. 



The female of the Clucking Teal, (Q. glocifans) might per- 

 haps be mistaken for that of Querquedula crecca, but it has a 

 much broader bill. In crecca the upper mandible at its widest 

 point near the tip, does not exceed 0-55 ; in some specimens it is 

 not above 0'5, while in the present species it exceeds 0-6, The 

 bird is altogether larger, having a wing of about 8'Oj against 

 about 7"0 in crecca. Then, in this species, the lower back and 

 rump are a grey brown, nearly uniform, a little darker at the 



