PINK-HEADED DUCK 



RHODOXESSA CARYOPHYLLACEA (Latham) 

 (Plate 8) 



Synonymy 

 Anas caryophyllacea Latham, Indian Ornith., vol. 2, p. 866, 1790. 

 Rhodonessa caryophyllacea Reichenbach, Av. Syst. Nat., p. ix, 1852. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: India: 



Pink-headed Duck Saknal — (Bengali) 



French: J^Tf, • I -(Hindustani) 



Milouin a cou rose Golab-lal-sir ) 



German: Dumrar — (Nepal) 



Rosenkopf-ente Umar — (Tirhoot) 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head, sides of neck, and hind neck beautiful pale rosy pink (which, however, fades 

 somewhat in dried specimens) with a tuft of still brighter feathers on the top of the head in the breed- 

 ing season. Throat dark brown; rest of plumage fine glossy, dark chocolate-brown, paler and less 

 glossed beneath, but under tail-coverts very dark. Mantle, scapulars, breast and sides with very 

 fine, rosy-whitish vermiculations or points; edge of the wing whitish, speculum reddish fawn or dull 

 salmon color, with a white band at the tip of the secondaries, outer web and tip of the outer primaries 

 brown, the inner web and inner primaries buff. Tertials glossy chocolate-brown, narrowly edged with 

 black on the outer web. Under wing-coverts and quills beneath, pale pink color, with a salmon luster; 

 tail chocolate-brown (Salvadori, 1895). 



The shade of brown in the plumage varies a good deal, very old birds being nearly black. The brown 

 in old or worn plumage is much duller and paler (Baker, 1908). Finn says that the male gets darker 

 on the crown during the summer moult. 



Bill dull reddish pink, deeper on mandible and darker still on gonys; the base of both mandibles, 

 more especially the maxilla, near the forehead, purer and brighter pink. Irides "fine orange red to 

 deep orange red"; legs and feet blackish, with a tinge of red (Jerdon), or reddish slate (Shillingford). 



Length 609 mm.; wing 267; tail 108; culmen 53; tarsus 40 (Salvadori). 



Weight about 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms); maximum 2 pounds, 3 ounces (1.0 kilogram). 



Adult Female: Similar to male, but duller and paler and more smoky brown. The head is not so 

 pink but the pink area runs all over the chin and throat. The colors of the soft parts all seem to be 

 duller than in the male, and Shillingford gives the bill as pinkish brown, with the base dull white; 

 irides dull orange; tarsus, toes, webs and nails purplish slate. Size as in the male. 



Young: Head and neck pale rose-white, with the top of the head, nape, and hind neck brown, the 

 whole plumage lighter brown, the under parts pale dull brown with a streaked appearance and the 

 edges of the feathers lighter than in the center. There may be little or no pink tinge on the head. 



Young in Down: Undescribed. 



