210 INDIAN DUCKS. 



" Males in first nuptial dress have the underparts more suffused with brown, 

 the white not suffused with pink, and the bill much paler." (SeeboJnn.) 



" Males in moulting plumage very closely resemble the adult females, but 

 may be distinguished by the brighter colour of their bills and eyelids, by the 

 greater development of their crest, by the darker brown of the belly and under 

 tail-coverts, and by the redder colour of the feet.'' (Salvadori.) 



" Young in down are described by Baldamus as having the upper parts dull 

 olive-grey, with a buff spot on each shoulder, and the underparts buff ; a buff 

 stripe passes over each eye, and through the eye runs a dark stripe, which 

 divides into two behind the eye.'" (Salvadori.) 



The habitat of the Red-crested Pochard may roughly be said to be the 

 countries surrounding the Mediterranean and Central Western Asia. 



It is common in South Russia, Turkestan, Persia, Afghanistan, Belu- 

 chistan, and thence in winter into India. Throughout the countries of 

 Southern Europe it is common, and it ascends north as a frequent straggler 

 to Xorthern France, England, occasionally as far as Scotland, North 

 Germany (where it breeds), and Central Russia. 



On the south coast of the Mediterranean it is much less common. It 

 is rare in Egypt and Tangiers, more common in Algiers, and west of 

 Algiers, after which it has not been recorded further west. 



In India, the Red-crested Pochard occurs practically throughout the 

 whole of the North and Central India. It is common in the North-West 

 Provinces, the Punjab, Sind, Rajputana, and Oudh, Central India, and the 

 Central Provinces, except in the south, and the greater part of Bengal. 

 In Assam it is less common, but by no means at all rare. Hume found it 

 in Manipur in small numbers, and I have myself seen, shot^ or had it 

 recorded for me from Cachar, Sylhet, and Dacca. In the Sunderbunds I 

 found it decidedly rare, but have had it recorded as common by other 

 sportsmen. In Southern India it must bo rare everywhere, and it seems 

 also to be rare in the extreme w^est, in Cutch, &c. There seem to be 

 hardly any records of the bird in Southern India, but Layard was certain 

 he had met w^ith it in Ceylon, and it doubtless, therefore, must occur at 

 odd times throughout the whole of the Indian Peninsula. 



I can find no signed records of its occurrence in Burma, but there 

 are anonymous, though apparently authentic, notes of its having been 

 occasionally found there. 



I have had it recorded from Chittagong, where^ however, it is said to 

 be very rare. 



Although so many of these ducks have their home quite close to India, 



