INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES, 5$3 



plumbeous to pale dull blue at the base, shading to black at the tip, the 

 bill in some having a greater extent of plumbeous, in others of black ; 

 the membrane between the rami of the lower mandible is generally 

 pinkish " (Hume). 



Length, 16" to 17-5"; wing, 6'92" to 8-04"; tail about 2'5" to 3" ; 

 tarsus, l'6' f to P92" ; bill from gape, 1-7" to 2;06". 



" Length about 18"; wing, 8"; tail, 2"; bill at front, 1-|"; : tarsus, If"';, 

 mid toe, 2f" (Jerdon). 



Weight about 1 lb. to i lb. 6 oz. ; the latter weight unusual. 



Female.— Like the male,, but perhaps averaging smaller. 



The Young — " When just able to fly, do not differ very much from 

 the adult, but are everywhere duller coloured. The margins to the 

 feathers of the interscapular region are inconspicuous and dingy 

 fulvous, and the entire lower surface a rather pale, dull, fulvous-brown n 

 (Hume). 



There are few places in India where this very common bird may 

 not be found, but outside our limits it does not extend very far. If, is- 

 obtained throughout the Indo-Chinese countries and Slam, and in the 

 Loochoo Islands, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and Java. 

 Mr. C. B. Rick9tts obtained a specimen near Sharp Peak close to. 

 Foochow, and it has been obtained in one or two other occasions in 

 China. The bird shot by Mr. Ricketts was killed in November. 



The specimen said to have been brought from Lake Tschad in Central; 

 Africa, seems to have been the result of some mistake. 



The Whistling Teal is, in many parts of India, a local migrant, 

 visiting them only during the rains; and this we can well understand, 

 knowing how many places in Northern and North- Western India 

 change their character with the advent of the rains from utterly dry,, 

 burnt-up tracts to well watered, wet ones. 



Cripps says that it is not found in Dacca during the cold weather, 

 but this. I know is not the case, as' I have seen them there at that 

 season, only they keep to the wetter portions, of the district, and doubt- 

 less many do move to Sylhet, where there is never any want of swamps 

 and Kneels. In the same way many birds leave Cachar as the water 

 subsides and go into Sjlhet. In Bengal I think the question is. 

 entirely one of water-supply, and where the water is sufficient, there 

 these teal will remain independent of the season. When, on the other 

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