T ADORNING. 789 



The Whistling-ducks are found in the warmer regions of both 

 Continents. They build either on the ground or on trees. Some 

 have the toes not fully webbed. They are classed by many 

 apart from the Shieldrakes, and in their structure somewhat re- 

 semble the PlectropterincB, but their tints are those of the Shiel- 

 drakes, though they want the wing-spot. Gray places them in 

 Anatince. Two species occur in India. 



952. Dendrocygna awsuree, Sykes. 



Mareca apud Sykes, Cat. 220— Jerdon, Cat. 376 — D. arcuata, 

 Horsf., apud Blyth, Cat. 1762, and others — A. caryophyllacea, 

 apud Sundevall — SilK, H. — Saral, Beng. — Harrili hans in East 

 Bengal — Yerra chilhtwa, Tel. 



The Whistling-teal. 



Descr. — Head and occiput dull wood-brown ; face, ears, and 

 neck, pale whity-brown, becoming darker on the back of the neck 

 and upper back, and faintly edged with pale rusty ; back and 

 scapulars dusky black, broadly edged with rusty-brown; rump 

 glossy black ; tipper tail-coverts chesnut ; tail brown with slightly 

 paler edges ; lesser and median wing-coverts fine rich marone- 

 red ; greater coverts and all the quills dusky black ; beneath, 

 the chin and throat albescent ; the neck whity-brown, passing into 

 brown, yellowish on the lower neck, and gradually merging into 

 the deep ferruginous or light chesnut of the whole of the lower 

 surface ; vent and under tail-coverts albescent. 



Bill blackish ; iricles brown ; orbits bright yellow ; legs and feet 

 dark plumbeous. Length about 18 inches; extent 27 ; wing 8 ; 

 tail 2 ; bill at front 1^ ; tarsus If ; mid-toe 2|. 



This species is sometimes confounded with D. javanica, Horsf., 

 (arcuata, Cuvier), but appears to differ in wanting the lunules on 

 the neck and breast, in the upper tail-coverts being marone, and 

 in its somewhat smaller size. It may be the variety indicated 

 by Horsfield under the name of Meliwis batu. 



This Whistling-teal is generally spread throughout India and 

 Burmah, and is a permanent resident. It associates, in the cold 

 weather, in numerous flocks, frequenting by preference wooded 



