56 IXDIAN DUCKS. 



The onlv other species in tli ^eniis is the American species yE'.i* sponsa 

 Cthe Summer Duck), In this the male has the crest all trreen and the 

 female differs from the female of JE. galericulata in havino- the head and 

 upper parts glossed with purple. The bill also is differently formed in 

 both sexes, being deeper at the base, and in uponaa the upper angle of the 

 maxilla runs far back into the forehead, whereas in the ^landarin the line 

 from gape to upper edge is practically straight. 



The Mandarin is a purely Eastern Asiatic duck, being distributed, 

 according to Salvadori, rhrouohout " Central and Southern China, Formosa 

 and Japan ; Amoorland only during the breeding-season. '•' It has also 

 been obtained in Corea, and now at last in India. 



It is not long since Gates wrote : " This beautiful duck is not unlikely 

 to be met with on the liorders of the Shan States " : but it has now Ijeen 

 obtained far more west — in Assam. 



Mr. A. Stevens, who shot the bird and mo.-t kindly presented it to me, 

 tells me, in epistold, how he managed to get it. He writes : " Early one 

 dull mornino- I went in a du^-out down the Diljru River on a collecting 

 trip. The Dribu, then at low water, is a small stream varying between 

 twenty and fifty yards wide, liere and there dotted with sandy Ijanks and 

 islands, but for the most part densely covered with jungle down to the 

 water's edge. Twice single specimens of ^Isarcoj'uis scutulata (the AVhite- 

 winged Wood-Duck) passed down the river on the way to their favourite 

 haunt and held forth hopes of something good to be had later on. I had 

 gone some two miles down the river and had come to a place where it 

 widened out and then divided into two branches. Here there was a small 

 sandy chur (bank), and on this I saw six ducks, but what they were I was 

 still too far off to determine. Four of the ducks were close together, two 

 a little apart, ])ut all six appeared to me to be exactly identical in size and 

 coloration. Selecting the two birds which were the nearer to me I fired 

 both barrels at them, upon which all six birds rose and flew ahead. ' I was 

 certain, however, that my shots had told ; nor was I wrong, for one bird, 

 after flying some forty yards, dropped into the water. Picking the bird up 

 I at once recognized that it was something new to me, liut at the same 

 time had no idea of the valup of what I had got. Consequently, although 

 I repeatedly flushed the ])air to this bird, I made no attempt to shoot it, 

 even though it got up well within range and gave me easy shots. 



" The birds, when first flushed, flew away strong and low, but the single 

 bird which I afterwards put up reminded me of the stupid performance of 

 the Little Green Bittern ( B utoroides javanira) in the way it flew from the 



