INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 21 
Young male.—“ Very similar in plumage to the old female, only 
somewhat more ruddy on the back. ” (Salvadori.) 
Young in down,—* Brown-grey ; upper part of the head and cheeks 
dark brown ; a streak below the eye, from the base of the bill to the 
nape, throat and sides ot the upper part of the neck dull greyish- 
white undulated with dusky; a whitish spot on each side of the 
rump, just below the wings; edge of the wing and under wing 
coverts whitish. ” (Salvadori. ) 
The White-headed Duck inhabits the countries surrounding 
the Mediterranean and extends thence into Western Central Asia 
and, according to Finsch, as far North as Southern Siberia and also, 
as a straggler only, into Germany and Holland, being over the 
greater portion of its range either resident or only locally 
migratory. 
In India it is undoubtedly a very rare duck. When Hume and 
Marshall published the Game Birds of India, the only record of the 
Stiff-tailed Duck was the followmg:—“ On the 20th October, 1879, 
Col. O. B. St. John, R. H., at that time Governor, I think, of Kandahar, 
shot a couple of ducks, of a type quite unknown to him, in the 
Jumeh river near Khelat-i-Ghilzai.” 
“These Ducks proved to be an immature pair of the White-headed 
Duck.” Since this was written, however, there have been further 
rather numerous records of this duck. In Stray Feathers (in loc. cit.) 
are the following :— 
Mr. Field writes of a bird sent to Mr. Hume, “TI shot this bird 
on the 28th of October at the ‘old nullah’ about a mile from the 
Civil Station of Ludhiana, Punjaub, It was sitting alone in a pool, 
I stalked up close behind some reeds and then shewed myself, expect- 
ing to see it fly. All it did was to cock its little stiff, thin-pointed tail, 
and swim off in a quiet way for some ten yards. Its appearance, 
whilst swimming with its tail up-turned, was most peculiar. I tried 
to frighten it into flying, but it would not rise, so I shot it while 
swimming.” 
Mr. Hume thought records of this bird would soon come to 
hand after this was written, and with reason for “ Within a few months of 
this prediction, Mr. F’. Field shot an immature bird of this species close 
to the Civil Station of Ludhiana. This was on the 28th of October, 
