MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 807 



white at all upon them, and in some individuals none. The Burmese birds 

 are intermediate in this respect. 



The range of the three sub-species would seem to be as follows : — 



poecilovhyncha. India as far as Western Assam, and in Cachar, Sylhet, 

 Chittagong and possibly into Arakan. 



haringtoni. The whole of Burmah, including Shan States and Chin Hills, 

 Yunnan, Cochin, China and possibly South-Western China adjoining 

 Burmah. 



There is one typical specimen of haringtoni in the British Museum, said to 

 have been collected by Keeves in China, but the exact locality is not given. 



It also extends into Assam in the extreme East, being met with in 

 Lakimpur and Teypur and, more rarely, in the district of Sibsagar m that 

 Province. 



zonorhyncha. Southern and Eastern China from the borders of North and 

 North-East Burmah as far as, and including, Japan. 



In giving the measurements above I have not been able to discriminate 

 between the sexes as a whole, so many of the skins in the British Museum 

 not having been sexed but judging from those which are sexed the females 

 are consistently smaller than the males in all three sub-species. 



I still retain the general name Anas for these ducks, as I can see no 

 reason for separating them. 



E. STUAET BAKER, f.z.s., f.l.s., m.b.o.u. 

 London, 



November 1913. 



No. XXIV.— BREEDING OF THE MARBLED TEAL {MARMA. 

 RONETTA ANGUSTIROSTRIS) IN BALUCHISTAN. 



In reply to your request for particulars regarding the breeding of the 

 marbled teal in Baluchistan, I will let you know the little I was able to 

 observe in this respect during the summer of 1913, on the Khushdil Khan 

 Lake, near Peshin. 



After the return, migration of ducks in March and April, a few ducks were 

 left on the Khushdil Khan Lake. The largest porportion of these were 

 marbled teal which had apparently made up their minds to spend the 

 summer here. About June, I observed a couple of birds, which had paired 

 off frequenting a small island. These two remained together and- did not 

 stay with the other marbled teal. I did not find their nest. I think it 

 was in August, though I do not recollect the date, that while in a boat on 

 the lake, on rounding a point on the same island, I disturbed a duck 

 which entered the water with 14 ducklings about a week old. I gave 

 chase and the duck went through the well-known tactics of her kind by 

 pretending that she was wounded and lagging behind her ducklings. She 

 gradually made off in a direction away from her ducklings. However, as 

 I wished to identify her I did not mind. This I was able to do as she let 

 the boat come within a yard of her and was undoubtedly a marbled teal. 

 When she thought her ducklings were a safe enough distance from us, 

 she rose quite easily and went off. These were the only ducklings I 

 observed at the Khushdil Khan Lake (5,000 feet above sea level) during 

 the year. The probability is that more ducks would breed here if there 

 was sufficient cover for their nests and if they were not disturbed by the 

 numerous flocks of sheep which graze on the shores of the lake. 



A. B. AITKEN. 



QuETTA, l^th January 1914. 



