INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 577 



Bill and feet black, irides rich brown. 



" Length 24*5" to 27-0" ; expanse 48*0" to 52*5" ; wing 14*25" to 

 15-5" ; tail from vent 5*4" to 6*3" ; tarsus 2-3" to 2'7" ; bill from gape 

 2-2 to 2'4" ; weight 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. 4 oz." (Hume). 



In the cold weather the majority of the drakes have their white 

 wing coverts much suffused with rufous. Hume had specimens practi- 

 cally having their wing coverts and lower plumage concolorous. 



Adult Female. — Differs in being smaller, and in having the head paler 

 and "In having (at any rate during the cold season) the whole 

 anterior portion of the head white" (Hume). The black collar is 

 never assumed. 



" Length 21'75" to 24*0" ; expanse 42*5" to 47*75" ; wing 12*36" to 

 14*0" ; tail from vent 5*06" to 6*0" ; tarsus 2*12" to 2*4" ; bill from gape 

 2*0" to 2*3" ; weight 2 lbs. 1 oz. to 3 lbs. 5 oz." (Hume). 



Young of the first season. — Generally like the female but rather 

 duller, the scapulars and upper back vermiculated brown and pale 

 rufous ; the inner secondaries brown more or less vermiculated with 

 reddish-buff, more especially on the inner web ; tail with narrow 

 obsolete bars of rufous and distinctly tipped with the same. 



In India many birds are met with in a transition stage between this 

 and the fully adult plumage. I have now a fine young male before 

 me with adult scapulars, but the back shews fine vermiculations of 

 brown, the tail and inner secondaries are those of the young bird, and 

 the whole lower plumage has the feathers very faintly and indistinctly 

 tipped paler. 



In this bird the feet are purplish-black, irides bright brown, and bill 

 slatey-black. 



" A nestling brought from Tso-mourari is mostly white, marked on 

 the upper surface with blackish-brown, and with here and there a 

 fulvous tinge" (Hume). 



The Brahminy is not a bird of very Northern latitudes even during 

 the breeding season. In summer it is found in Spain, though in small 

 numbers only, throughout Southern Europe and Northern Africa, and 

 thence through Asia Minor, Turkestan, Afghanistan and extreme 

 Northern India at altitudes over 10,000 feet, through China to the 

 North and Japan. Ithasbeen recorded from nearly all North European 

 countries including Great Britain, but nowhere as anything but 



