INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES, 17 



Total length from 4- 7" to 5-2" ; wing 23" to 27" ; tail about 10" ; 

 culmen 4*2" ; tarsus about 4*5", but varying much. 



Weight about 15 to 20 lbs. in a wild state, rarely running up to 24 

 or 25 lbs. ; in a tame state birds of 30 lbs. may be met with, and 

 heavier birds even than this have been recorded. 



Female. — Smaller than the male, and with the tubercle at the base 

 of the bill less developed. The neck is also more developed and the 

 bird li swims deeper in the water " (Hume). In the majority of the 

 birds of this order, the ducks swim deeper than the drakes, the reason 

 of this being the anatomical structure of the different sexes. 



Length 4'2" to 4-8" ; wing 18" to 22" ; tail under 10" ; culmen 

 about 4" ; tarsus about 4'3". 



Young. — <c Plumage almost a sooty grey ; neck and under surface 

 of the body lighter in colour ; beak lead-colour ; nostrils and the basal 

 marginal lines black " (Salvador]'). 



Cygnets. — " Covered with soft brownish or dull ashy-grey down, 

 which in the lower throat and breast becomes much paler, almost 

 white ; bill and legs lead-grey " (Salvadori). 



In India the specimens of the mute swan obtained are nearly all 

 young ones, and these have the tubercle on the bill very slightly or 

 not at all developed, but the feathers of the forehead at the base of 

 the bill are prolonged to a point " slightly truncated " (Hume). 



The range of this swan does not seem to be nearly as extensive as 

 that of the two birds already mentioned, that is to say in a truly 

 feral state, as a domestic bird it i3, of course, almost cosmopolitan. In 

 the summer, in its wild state, it is said to be found throughout the 

 central and south-eastern parts of Europe, but is more rare in the 

 North, and is practically absent from the extreme North and the West. 

 It has only twice been recorded from Heligoland, once in 1881, and 

 once many years previous to that, both times in the winter. It extends 

 throughout Prussia and Eussia, and writing of Eastern Prussia, 

 Hartert says : " C. olor breeds in small numbers in some of the greater 

 lakes/' Breeding-places are recorded in West Turkistan and Siberia 

 and also in Denmark, Norway, and Swedan, and, I believe, in Greece, 

 and parts of the valley of the Danube. In Asia it is found in West 

 Siberia and adjoining countries. In winter it extends its range to 

 Northern Africa, but does not seem to work far to the West, through 



