282 INDIAN DUCKS. 



" Length 22-0 to 23-5 inches, expanse 28-0 to 31-0, wing 8-5 to 9-3, tail from 

 insertion of feathers 2-7 to 3-6; tarsus 1-G6 to 1-83, bill as above 2-1 to 2-3. 



"In the young and females there is more dusky on the upper mandible, where 

 the red is often only a lateral band, and the feet are duller coloured than in the 

 adult male." {Hume.) 



"Adult male in summer. — In the plumage that the male of this species 

 assumes for a short time during the summer it resembles the female, but is 

 distinguishable by its larger size, the different colour of the abdomen and of the 

 scapulars." (Dresser.) 



" Young male closely resembles the female, especially when the latter is in 

 fresh plumage with a greyish tinge, but can usually be distinguished by its larger 

 size and shorter crest." (Dresser.) 



" Males in first nuptial dress have the lower back brown, and the white 

 round the neck streaked with brown." (Salvadori.) 



" Young in down are dark brown on the upper parts, shading into reddish- 

 brown on the head, and into chestnut on the sides of the neck ; a white patch 

 on each wing, one on each side of the upper back, and one on each side of 

 the rump ; underparts pure white, and lores white, margined above and below 

 with dark brown." (Seebo?un.) 



The E,ed-breasted Merganser is found practically tliroughout the 

 Northern Hemisphere, breeding to the north, and extending south to the 

 Mediterranean basin, Central Asia to Persia, Northern India, China and 

 Japan, and in America to the United States. 



On the whole, it is a more northern bird than the Goosander, and is 

 circumpolar, whereas the latter is an eastern or Old-Workl form. 



In India there is no doubt that it occurs only as the most rare of 

 stragglers. 



The first specimen quoted as being an Indian one, and which was the 

 only one known to Hume at the time ' Game-Birds ' was written, was 

 erroneously so recorded. Blanford corrects this mistake ; he says : — 

 " The l)ird stated in ' Stray Feathers ' and the British Museum Catalogue 

 to have been shot by Captain Bishop at Manora, Karachi Harbour, was 

 really obtained by him at Chahbar, in Persian Baluchistan. This correction 

 is founded on a letter from Captain Bishop to Mr. Cumming, which I have 

 seen. 



In ' Stray Feathers ' (v, p. '323), Captain (tlien) E. A. Butler notes :— 

 " There is a fine specinu^i, a ? , of this species in the Frere Hall Museum, 

 shot by Captain Bishop, at the Manora Point off the Kiirachi Harbour ; 

 another specimen has just now been captured, at the end of June." Both 

 these birds are referred to as M. cador, but the first was the M. sernUor 



