INDIAN PYGMY GOOSE or COTTON TEAL 103 



about two inches long; white bar also formed by tips of secondaries; under wing-coverts blackish. 



Bill black, but in summer time only, according to E. W. Oates (1883); in winter, brown above 

 and yellowish beneath. Iris bright red; legs and feet black, tinged with yellow. 



Length 318 to 343 mm.; wing 152 to 178, rarely over 167 or under 160; culmen 23 to 24; 

 tarsus 25. 



Weight between 9 and 12 ounces (1.2 to 1.6 kilograms) (Baker, 1908). 



Adult Female: Cap like that of male, but uniform brown; a well-marked line of brown running 

 through the eye; rest of head and lower parts white, and on the lower neck an area spotted with 

 brown in place of the collar of the male; face and neck more mixed with fine brownish vermiculations ; 

 in old specimens the under parts become pure white as in the male; in young birds they are more or 

 less barred and streaked with light brown; upper parts very similar to those of male, but wing specu- 

 lum much shorter. 



Iris brown; bill brown above, yellowish beneath. 



Length 305 mm.; wing 152 or a trifle over; culmen 22.8; tarsus nearly 25 (Baker, 1908). 



Female in First Plumage: Like the adult female, but lower side more or less streaked with gray 

 and not so pure white. Tail feathers show bluntness characteristic of first plumage. The upper 

 surface is nearly as in adult but the outer wing-coverts have little or no iridescence. 



Male in First Plumage: Like the female, but the white patch on the primaries is always present, 

 although not so large nor so well marked as in the adult male. Remainder of plumage almost exactly 

 like the young female's except that the outer wing-coverts and speculum have more metallic-green 

 color showing. 



Male in Eclipse : Ten or fifteen skins in the British Museum show adult males in a plumage which 

 may be termed eclipse. There is no trace of the black breast band, and the coloring of head, neck, and 

 breast is exactly like that of the female. The wings, however, remain as in full-plumaged males, re- 

 taining the white primary patch. 



Young em Down: General appearance very peculiar and different from other Anatidce. Occiput black; 

 a very broad whitish superciliary stripe runs back to the occiput, where it meets its fellow of the op- 

 posite side and forms a white band across the back of the head. There is a narrow but well-defined 

 black streak from the culmen through and back of the eye. Remainder of face and neck whitish, 

 except the upper side of the neck which is gray. The mantle is gray-brown and the back, rump, and 

 tail nearly black. The most prominent features are very large white patches on the scapulars, wings, 

 flanks, and sides of rump. The tail plumes are very long, coarse and stiff as in other members of this 

 genus. The under surface is light buff except the flanks which are blackish. 



Remarks : Two specimens in the British Museum show primaries with white patches lacking, as in 

 the female, but with the black collar and the white face and neck of the adult male. These appear to 

 be old females acquiring male plumage. 



Note on Neftapus coromandelianus albipennis, the so-called White-quilled Pygmy Goose 

 of Australia: This form was separated by Gould (Birds of Austr., part 6, plate 17 and text, 1842) 

 from the Cotton Teal of India on account of its supposedly larger size. Hartert (Kat. Vogelsamml., 

 p. 228, 1891) regarded it as only subspecifically distinct and Mathews (1914-15) considers the size 

 character as unstable and so far as can be deduced from his plumage description, adds no other dif- 

 ferentiating characters. Parrot (1910) does not think there is any real distinction between Nettapus 



