240 INDIAN DUCKS. 



the lower parts rufescent, and they are mottled everywhere with pale brown, 

 except on the very centre of the abdomen. 



The colours of the soft parts are the same as in the male, but generally 

 duller. 



"Length 15-2 to 16-75 inches, expanse 2G-7 to 28-7, wing 7"G to 8-0, tail 

 from vent 2-6 to 3-0, tarsus 1-2 to 1-4, bill from gape 1-81 to 2-0. Weight 1 lb. 

 5 ozs. to 1 lb. 12 ozs." {Hume.) 



Crest about 1 to nearly 2 inches, rarely more than 1'5. 



A very fine young male in my collection is like the adult, but has the breast 

 weaklv defined, has no gloss on the head, and has a white face extending back 

 fully half an inch from the base of the upper mandible. In this bird, also, the 

 white feathers of the outer secondaries have black shafts, and have also a narrow 

 black margin to the outer "webs. 



" Young in first plumage. — Closely resemble the adult females, but are paler 

 brown, especially on the chin and throat, and have no metallic-green gloss on the 

 innermost secondaries ; there are many white feathers at the base of the bill. 



"Males in first nuptial dress^have white margins to the black feathers of 

 the breast, a shorter crest, no green or purple gloss on the head, and a small 

 white spot on the chin." (Salvadori.) 



" Males in moulting plumage are intermediate in colour between males in 

 first plumage and males iu first nuptial plumage. 



" Young in down are dark brown, shading into nearly white on the belly." 

 {SeebohiK.) 



tSalvadori thus defines tlu' habitat of tlie Tufted Pocliard: — " Palsearctic 

 Reoion from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; in the Ethiopian Region it 

 extends as far soutli as 8hoa. and apparently breeds in tlie high lakes of 

 Abyssinia ; in winter in South ( 'hina, Japan, and India, but not in Ceylon 

 or Burmah ; accidental in the Malay Archipelago (Philippines and 

 Borneo), and in the Polynesian Islands (Marianne Tsl. and Pelew 

 Islands).'" 



As reii'ards its distribution in India. Hume gives very full details. 

 He writes : " Very rarely seen in the Himalayas, the Tufted Pochard is 

 rather thinly distributed in the cold season in the Punjab and the Doab, 

 is scarce in Rajpootana, more common in Rohilkhand and Oudh, and less 

 so in the Central Provinces and Bundelkhand. 



" In Sind it is not very abundant ; in Kutcli more ; in Kathiawar and 

 Gujerat, in the Central Indian Agency, Khandesh, and the Deccan fairly 

 common. 



"In Bengal, Cis-Brahmaputra, it has been noted from many districts, 

 but I believe it to be rather scarce there, though my information on the 

 subject is scant. Damant records it, and some of Godwin-Austen's people 

 procured it from Manipur ; but I have no information of its occurrence 



