482 



The Russian travellers, so. far as we can ascertain, excepting Menetries, who records its 

 occurrence in Southern Kussia, did not refer to this species ; but we have seen specimens said to 

 have come from the Caspian ; and Mr. Dode brought eggs of this Duck which he stated he had 

 procured there. Canon Tristram observed it during the summer in Palestine, and writes as 

 follows : — " The most interesting of the Duck tribe was Anas marmorata, which we found 

 only in the Huleh, and in great numbers, though very wary, and breeding there in places wholly 

 inaccessible. In June it was the only Duck we could find there, excepting a stray Teal, and 

 now and then a F. nyroca, while hundreds of this rare Marbled Duck rose as we approached 

 the openings in the swamps, but always out of shot." Amongst the specimens sent to us for 

 examination is one from Canon Tristram, labelled "Alexandria, Egypt ; " but it must be excessively 

 rare in North-eastern Africa, as we can find no other record of its having occurred there, excepting 

 this. According to Loche it is sedentary on the lakes of "Algeria, where it is found in pairs or 

 in small families after the breeding-season. It feeds on Crustacea, insects, and worms. It nests 

 on the eyots amongst the herbage and rushes, depositing five or six eggs." Dr. Carl Bolle 

 writes that it is the only Duck which breeds on the Canaries. He observed several pairs in 

 May on the ponds of the charco of Maspalomas, in the dense growth of water-plants, where 

 they had their young with them. 



The most eastern country where it has hitherto been observed is Scinde ; and we give the 

 following note respecting its occurrence there, kindly communicated to us by Mr. A. O. Hume : — 

 " One of the most interesting of the Indian novelties that my ornithological trip to Sindh during 

 the last cold weather has brought to light is Anas angustirostris, the Marbled Duck. Unknown 

 in other parts of India, it swarms in countless multitudes on the ' dauds,' or, as we should call 

 them, ' broads ' of Sindh, west of the Indus, and, though less common, is to be met with in the 

 Rodree division also, which is east of the Indus, and occasionally in the Hyderabad collectorate. 

 Like Aythya nyroca, its constant associate, it somewhat eschews rivers or open pieces of water, 

 and haunts the rushy lakes, which, when seen at a distance, look like waving hay-fields. When 

 not much shot at, it lies fairly close, and rises out of the low rush as the boats push through it, 

 like Partridges out of a turnip-field ; but in most of the gheels or broads that I visited, sportsmen 

 were too frequent visitants, and hundreds of this pretty little Duck rose in ones and twos out of 

 perhaps twenty or thirty acres of rush-concealed water, each bird rising just, and only just, out 

 of ordinary shot, so that with green cartridges one secured a fair bag. This species comes in 

 early in November, and leaves by the end of March ; and considering its extreme commonness 

 during the cold season, it is remarkable that no one should ever previously have noticed its 

 occurrence." 



In M. Favier's notes on the species, kindly communicated to us by Major Irby, there is 

 a description of the trachea of this Duck, which we translate as follows : — " The trachea of 

 the male is of large diameter towards the centre of the tube, but narrows suddenly towards 

 the inferior and superior larynx, and enlarges again somewhat at the glottis (glotte) ; and 

 the inferior larynx forms a bony protuberance, about the size of a cherry, placed on the 

 left side." 



In Dresser's collection are two eggs of this Duck — one obtained by Major Irby in Spain, and 



