526 



green mane on the back of the nape ; entire throat, extending backwards on to the sides of the neck 

 and downwards, half intersecting a green collar round the neck, white ; below this green collar another 

 broad ring of white encircling the neck ; upper portion of the back transversely vermiculated with 

 greyish brown and white ; scapulars greyish white, minutely vermiculated, the outer webs marked with 

 black at the base, forming a small horizontal bar, the inner webs white in the dorsal scapulars ; lower 

 part of the back dark brown, obsoletely vermiculated with greyish ; tail-coverts black, very long, and 

 entirely hiding the tail ; wing-coverts beautiful clear grey, the greater ones shading off into white at 

 the tips, and thus forming a bar ; quills greyish brown, turning into darker brown along the edge and 

 toward the tips; secondaries darker brown, externally beautiful metallic green, the innermost 

 secondaries very long, sickle-shaped, and reaching to the end of the primaries, the shafts and external 

 edges of these feathers whitish, the outer ones being entirely velvety-black, but the inner ones less 

 black and minutely vermiculated ; tail grey-brown ; the upper breast waved with alternate bars of 

 white and grey, thickest on the lower part of the throat and sides of the neck; flank-feathers long, 

 and finely vermiculated; entire abdomen obscurely vermiculated with white and grey; under tail- 

 coverts black and very long, reaching beyond the tail ; on each side of the tail a very distinct cream- 

 coloured patch, the bases of the feathers being black, showing a beautiful black bar before the last- 

 named patch ; under wing-coverts and axillary plumes pure white ; bill greenish black ; feet dull 

 blue-grey, darker on the web; iris brown. Total length 19 inches, culmen 1/8, wing 1O0, tail 3 - 0, 

 tarsus ] - 35. 



Adult Female. Head striped with purplish brown, each feather margined with fulvous ; sides of the face 

 and neck dotted with small brown points and stripes ; throat paler, varied with small brown markings ; 

 general colour of the back rufous, more or less broadly and irregularly varied with brown; lower 

 portion of the back brown, with a few obsolete fulvous edgings ; wing coloured as in the male, but the 

 sickle-shaped feathers not developed, these being represented by a few elongated and slightly curved 

 feathers, for the most part brown, the outer webs inclining to grey at the base, the outer margins 

 white ; upper part of the breast deep rufous, with a few purplish brown cross-markings, these being 

 thickest on the lower part of the neck and sides of the throat ; rest of the under surface of the body 

 fulvous, covered everywhere with very indistinct brown mottlings ; sides of the body and under tail- 

 coverts rather deeper rufous, with plainer longitudinal brown stripes and irregular mottlings ; under 

 wing-coverts and axillary plumes pure white. Total length 16 inches, culmen l - 8, wing 9*0, tail 3 - 4, 

 tarsus l - 2. 



Young Male. In general coloration resembling the old female, but altogether of a darker brown, and less 

 mottled with rufous, the head and back being distinctly glossed with green ; the wing coloured as in 

 the adult female, but having obsolete fulvous edgings to the wing-coverts, and the white tips to the 

 greater coverts also somewhat tinged with fulvous; the under surface of the body is pale fulvous, 

 covered with small spots of brown ; the upper part of the breast and flanks more rufous, and mottled 

 with brown. Total length 15 inches, culmen l - 65, wing 9 - 3, tail 3"0, tarsus 125. 



The Falcated Teal is scarcely a typical Qiierquedida, by reason of the extraordinary development 

 of the mane on the neck, of the inner secondaries (not the scapulars, as some authors have 

 termed these sickle-shaped feathers), and especially of the upper and lower tail- coverts, which 

 are abnormally long, reaching beyond the tail. 



The true home of this beautiful Duck is Eastern Siberia and Japan, whence it migrates 

 southward in winter, ranging into China. Mr. Swinhoe has procured it at Peking and Shanghai. 

 At the former place Pere David also says it passes in great numbers in spring and autumn. 



