ERISMATURA LEUCOCEPHALA. 255 



Subfamily ERISMATURIXiE. 



The one great distinctive feature of this subfamily is the remarkable 

 tail, of which the eighteen feathers are stiff and hard, very much as are 

 the feathers of a Woodpecker's tail. 



The subfamily contains four genera : Thalassiornis, confined to South 

 Africa : Jyomo7ii/.v to Tropical America ; Biziura, which is only found in 

 Australia ; and, finally, Erismatura, which is almost cosmopolitan. 



The first three genera consist of but one species each ; but Erismahira, 

 the only genus in which we are interested, has no less than seven, one of 

 w'hich, E. leucocejyJtcda, extends into India. 



This bird has, in addition to the remarkable tail, another feature 

 almost equally remarkable, viz. the swollen base to the bill, which extends 

 forward as far as the nostril. The nail is also very small and is bent 

 inwards ; the wing very small ; and the feet very large and powerful, 

 with the lobe to the hind toe very fully developed. 



(42) ERISMATURA LEUCOCEPHALA.. 

 THE WHITE-HEADED on STIEE-TAIL DUCK. 



Erismatura leucocephala, Hume 4' ^icir. Game-B. iii, p. 289 ; Hume, Sir, 

 Fcctth. xii'i, p. 456 ; ix, p. 296 ; x, p. 158; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, 

 p. 442; F. Finn, P. A. S. B. 1896, p. 62; Sherwood, Jour. B. A. H. S. 

 xi, p. 150; Unwin, ibid. p. 169; 2Iacnah, ibid, xiii, p. 182; Blanford, 

 Fauna B. I. iv, p. 466 ; Oates, Game-B. ii, pp. 374, 375. 



Description. Adult male.—" Crown black ; forehead, sides of the head, 

 includiug the space above the eye, chin and nape pure white ; below this 

 white the neck all rcuud is black ; lower neck and breast chestnut-red, with 

 narrow blackish bars ; back, scapulars, sides, and flanks reddish chestnut, more 

 or less huffish, and iiuely and irregularly veriniculated with blackish ;' upper tail- 

 coverts deep chestnut ; uuderparts, below the breast, reddish but^'y w hite ; wings 

 brown-grey, the wing-cov^erts and secondaries finely vermiculated with buft'y 

 white ; under wing-coverts grey, tlie central ones whitish ; axillaries white ; tail 

 blackish : bill blue ; iris dark brown : feet as])y brown, with the webs black. 



