288 TADORNINiE. 



says — " He heard of their being seen flying down to the water with 

 ducklings on their backs, and that twice he saw them carrying these in 

 their claws. On one of these occasions between Sand 9 a. m. he saw a 

 duck carry down her whole brood of seven, one at a time^ from a hole 

 in a huge mango tree to the water, she passing each time within three 

 yards of his face.'' 



Dendrocygna fulva, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 530, 1788 ; Baird, Birds 

 N. Amer. pi. 63, ] . Dendrocygna major, Jerd. III. Ind. Orn. pi. 23 ; 

 id. Birds Ind. iii. 790; Str. F. vii. 463; Murray, Hdbk.,Zool., Sfc, 

 Bind, p. 234.- — The Larger Whistling Teal. 



Top of head and sides of the face rufescent brown, slightly paler on 

 the cheeks; chin and throat albescent, a broad ring or patch of white in 

 the middle of the neck; a broad black line down the back of the neck 

 from below the nape ; back, scapulars, primaries, secondaries, tertials 

 and greater wing-coverts dark brown, the feathers of the back with 

 rufescent or chestnut edgings, forming lunules; lesser wing-coverts dark 

 maroon ; breast yellowish chestnut, gradually passing into the light 

 chestnut of the under parts of the body; vent, under and upper tail- 

 coverts white or fulvous white ; .tail dark brown; bill plumbeous; 

 irides brown ; legs and feet plumbeous. 



Length. — 20'5 to 21 inches, wing 9-25, tail 2*5 to 2'8, bill from gape 

 2 to 2-4, tarsus 2-25. 



Hab. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. and Central Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, 

 Rajputana, Kutch, Guzerat, Concan and Deccan, also S. India and 

 Ceylon in suitable localities. 



Casarca, £p. — Bill moderate ; culmen with a knob at the base ; nail 

 at tip large ; hind toe lobed ; wing spurred; plumage from buffy orange 

 to bright orange. 



Casarca rutila, Pall. Eist. d' Egypt, t. x. 1 ; Oould. B. Eur. pi. 

 358; Jerd. B. Ind. in. 791; Str. F. i. 260; iv. 198; Murray, Hdbk., 

 Zool., ^c, Sind; Hume, Game B. Ind. p. 123. (Vern. Mungh, Sind). — 

 The Rdddt Shelldrake or Brahmint Duck. 



Male. — Head, on the crown and sides buff, darkening on the nape 

 and hind neck, and gradually passing into deep orange or orange 

 fulvous on the upper back and breast ; a seasonal glossy black band 

 round the middle of the neck in males (not present in all specimens) ; 

 chin buff; upper back, scapulars and breast in front deep orange 

 brown, orange fulvous, or rufescent, the colour being variable ; in some 

 specimens the feathers are edged paler ; lower back ochreous, the 

 feathers finely vermiculated with black ; rump black, also the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail, which have a greenish gloss; lower abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts deep chestnut; in females and in males out of season, 

 and without the black neck collar, the entire under surface from the 

 breast is pale chestnut or fulvous chestnut, sometimes with the feathers 

 round theventdarkeningiuto deeper chestnut'; wing spurred at the bend; 

 primaries dark brown ; greater coverts and outer webs of secondaries 

 glossy purplish green, forming a broad speculum ; lesser and median 



