£98 



ANATIN^, 



Male. — Entire headj face, chin and throat umber brOwn, the feathers 

 on the crown slightly darker and with a ferruginous tinge ; back of the 

 neck dark brown, nearly black; lower neck, breast and abdomen 

 white ; a white line running up on each side of the neck to the occiput ; 

 back, sides of the breast and flanks marked with transverse undula- 

 tions of black and white ; upper tail-coverts cinereous or pale fulvous 

 brown ; under tail-coverts deep velvet black ; tail with the central 

 feathers black, much elongated, black and glossed with greenish, the 

 others dusky brown and margined with white ; primaries dusky greyish 

 brown, the shafts much paler ; secondaries dusky brown on their inner 

 webs, their outer webs forming the speculum, dark greenish bronze, 

 edged with black and tipped broadly white ; upper part of the speculum 

 edged with the pale ferruginous tips of the greater coverts, which, like 

 the lesser and median coverts, are dusky brown; scapulars black, edged 

 with yellowish ; tertiaries long and pointed, deep black and edged with 

 whitish ; bill black, with a bluish tinge on the sides of the upper 

 mandible ; legs and feet slaty or blackish grey ; irides dark brown. 



Length.— -22 to 29 inches, wing 10-3 to 11-75, tail 7-5 to 8, bill 2 to 

 2-45. 



Females. — Smaller. Length. — 20 to 22"5, wing 93 to 10. 



Female. — Forehead and crown, also back of the head, nape and 

 neck dark brown, the feathers with fulvous edgings ; sides of the face, 

 chin, throat and foreneck fulvous with brown spots and streaks, which 

 become longer and darker on the lower neck ; breast and the lower 

 parts fulvous with obscure crescentic brownish markings on the breast, 

 flanks and sides of the rump and large spots on the lower abdomen ; 

 back and scapulars dark brown, with lunate or crescentic markings of 

 white and pale bufi" about the middle of each feather, and edged with 

 whitish; greater and lesser wing-coverts dusky brown, with margins 

 and tips of white ; primaries a shade lighter ; speculum brownish 

 bronze, unglossed, the tips of the feathers white; tertiaries dusky 

 brown, margined with white ; tail long, pointed, dark brown, with 

 imperfect bars and streaks of white or yellowish white ; under tail- 

 coverts fulvous white, with brown spots. 



Hah. — Sind, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Punjab, N. W. and 

 Central Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, Concan, Deccan, Guzerat, 

 Central and Southern India and Ceylon. Hume says — " There is no 

 district in the Empire, from Ceylon to Kashmir, from Kashmir to Sadya, 

 Munipoor and Moulmein, where the Pintail does not occur in greater 

 or less abundance except in South Tenasserim, 



The Pintail aS^ects the large broads or dhunds and lakes, and is 

 seldom seen except in large parties. It is held in much estimation 

 for the table, and for this purpose is netted in great numbers with the 

 Gadwall and other water birds. On the Munchur Lake the fowlers net 

 from 100 to 200 daily, and a sportsman in suitable localities could 

 obtain two or three dozen at least as a good day's sport, besides 

 other game. Hume, like myself, thinks that on the whole, next to the 



