14G INDIAN DUCK^. 



seem to mix much with larger flocks of other species of Teiil and Duck, 

 with whom they feed and sleep in perfect harmony. 



The flight is said to be swift and Teal-like, and the l)ird to be very 

 strong and active on the wing. I can find no record concerning these 

 birds' swimming and diving powers, so that we may expect to find that 

 these are neither abnormally developed nor yet much less in extent than 

 they are in other Teal. 



Its cry, when on the wing, is noted as a " tolerably loud and piercing- 

 whistle " (Prjevalski) ; and it has also been heard to give vent to a 

 chuckling quack as it swims about feeding. 



Its diet seems to be principally, if not wholly, vegetarian, but very little 

 has been written on this point. 



The female Bronze-capped Teal is so like the female Gadwall that both 

 Hume and Salvador! give the points by which they may be determined. 

 They are these : — 



The principal difference lies in the wing-speculum : in the Gadwall " the 

 entire visible portions of the later secondaries are pure white, the terminal 

 portions of their larger coverts white. 



" In female falcata the visible portions of the later secondaries are 

 black, with more or less metallic-green reflections, narrowly tipped with 

 white, and the terminal portions of their greatcn- coverts are black." 



The maxilla also of the Gadwall is only dark along the culmen, whereas 

 the whole of the upper mandible of the Bronze-cap is dark : so also there 

 is always more or less of an orange or yellowish tinge on the feet and legs 

 of the Gadwall, whereas there is no trace of this colour on those of the 

 other duck, in which they are more or less of a light slate-colour. These 

 last differences, however, will not be very noticeable in the dried skin, not 

 at all in very old specimens, and can only be of any use in descriminating 

 birds in the flesh. It should always be borne in mind by anyone wishing 

 to ascertain the identity of a bird that it is infinitely easier to do so whilst 

 it is in the flesh than afterwards, when it has become a dried specimen : the 

 colours of the soft parts are then undiscernible, small marks of feathers, 

 such as rings round the eyes, indistinct supercilia, and similar markings, are 

 seldom as definite as in the fresh bird, and often, if roughly handled in the 

 skinning, become totally lost. Thus the bird should be identified in the 

 flesh as soon as possible ; and if it cannot be, the colours of the soft parts 

 must be carefully noted, and a rough note made also of anything remark- 

 able in the coloration. 



The Bronze-capped Teal breeds throughout Southern. Siberia to the east 

 centre, but rarely to the west ; it has been found breeding on all four 



