802 



ANATIN^. 



indistinct, bordered above and below. with wlaite ; breasts and abdomen 

 greyish white, spotted with brown. 



Length. — 14'5 to 15 inches, with a wing of from 7 to 7"5. 



Hob. — The same as Q. crecca. 



Not found in as great numbers as Q. crecca, affects the same situations, 

 and is considered excellent for the table. It is chiefly a nocturnal 

 feeder, concealing itself in the jheels and dhunds, among the high grass 

 during the day ; when disturbed it usually returns to the same spot. 

 Hume says " that at nights they come in some parts of the country in 

 such crowds into paddy fields as to destroy acres of crop at one visit ; 

 their food, like Q. crecca, is chiefly vegetable, as tender shoots 

 and leaves of water plants, seeds, bulbs, &c., but on the sea coasts, 

 especially the Sind and Mekran Coast, where they are frequently 

 found in some numbers, Crustacea, slugs, fry of fish and algas form 

 tlieir diet." 



Querqnedula formosa. The Clucking Teal. 



Q,uerquedula formosa, Georgi. Act. Stockl. 1779, t. i. ; ScU. F. 



J. t. 82, B. Querquedula glocitans, PaZZ. ; Jerd. B. Ind.m. p. 808; 

 Hume, Game Birds Ind. iii. p. 225. — The Clucking Teal. 



" Male. — Forehead, top of head and occiput rich purple brown, 

 bounded by a narrow white line from the eye; face, cheeks and sides of 

 neck fawn colour; a black streak from below the eye meeting a black 

 patch on the throat ; nape and hind neck glossy green, ending in a 

 black stripe down the back of the neck, separated from the fawn 

 colour of the sides of the neck by a nai'row white line ; upper plumage 

 finely marbled grey, edged with rufous on the back ; upper wing- 

 coverts hair brown, the median coverts the same, with an edging of 

 I'ufous, forming the anterior margin of the speculum, which is glossy 

 green, ending in velvet black and bordered posteriorly with silvery 

 white ; primaries brown ; scapulars lengthened, deep black in the centre, 

 white on their upper side, and rufous externally ; upper tail-coverts 

 brown, white on either side; tail of 16 feathers dark brown; beneath 

 the throat black ; neck and breast vinaceous purple, paling below 



