INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 557 



larger bill, than any Indian bird which I have seen or of which I can find 

 the measurements. Three other birds have been also obtained in Nyasa. 



Birds of the first year are duller and paler, the upper tail coverts 

 are narrowly edged with brown, and the wing coverts are a dull chest- 

 nut brown. 



Young in down.—" Upper parts greyish-brown ; lower parts whitish ; 

 a white band across the occiput, interrupted by the brown band which 

 rims along the hind neck ; a brown band from the ears to the hind neck; 

 no white patches on the sides of the head ; a whitish band across the 

 wing" (Salvadori). 



Hume gives the weight of an adult male as 1 lb. 12 oz. and that of 

 a female as 1 lb. 10 oz. I have shot a male which weighed 2 lbs. 

 exactly, and which was a very fine heavy bird. I have never weighed a 

 female or, at least, recorded any weights of such. 



The Greater Whistling Teal has its head-quarters, within Indian 

 limits, in Eastern Bengal, where in parts it is exceedingly numerous ; 

 thence it extends into Assam, where however it is not common, and 

 seems gradually to become less common towards the West and North 

 of the Empire and to extend a very short way to the South. Mr. G. B. 

 Sherman said that he found it very common in Travancore, but it is 

 most probable that he mistook the common Whistling Teal for this bird. 

 J erd on also found it fairly common in some parts of the Deccan. As 

 regards Burmah, Oates in " Birds of British Burmah" writes : — " The 

 larger Whistling Teal is comparatively a rare bird in Burmah, except in 

 the Northern portions of Pegu, where I found it very abundant in the 

 Engmah Swamp, twenty- five miles south of Prome. Capt. Wardlaw 

 Ramsay procured it at Tonghoo, and I observed it several times in 

 the paddy-fields near Kyeekpadiea in Southern Pegu during the rains. 

 I can find no record of its occurrence in Tenasserim or Arrakan." 



He then goes on to say that it is found in Ceylon, but he does not 

 mention his authority for this statement, and I cannot but think it is a 

 mistake, for I can find no record of its occurrence anywhere in that 

 Island. In " Stray Feathers" (loc. cit.) he says that the larger Whistling- 

 Teal is found all over the Province of Pegu, but is less common than the 

 smaller species. 



Outside India its distribution is very remarkable. Salvadori thus 

 describes its habitat : — " Am#-ica (from southern border of the United 



