104 NETTAPUS COROMANDELIANUS 



coromandelianus of India and the Australian subspecies. The true Cotton Teal of India (Xettapus 

 coromandelianus) is found as far east as northern Celebes and Java, and very likely on some of the 

 intervening islands. The male of N. c. albipennis was said by Gould to be much larger than the 

 female, but the sexes of the Indian species differ similarly in size. Gould's type specimen ( $ no. 

 5969) now in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, has a wing of 19 cm. which is at least 

 2.5 cm. larger than the average of the Indian Pygmy Goose. The bill and tarsus are also slightly 

 larger. I examined, however, a series of Australian examples in the Tring Museum (Mathews Collec- 

 tion) and could find no constant differences between these and specimens from India and the Ma- 

 layan region. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Excepting in the northwest the species is fairly common throughout India, becoming abundant in 

 the northeastern parts. In Hume's day it was not known to occur in Sind, Cutch, Kashmir, Rajpu- 

 T ,. tana, except the east, or the Punjab. But since that time it has been found in Sind 



(Bacon, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. 19, p. 264, 1909; Parrington, ibid., vol. 15, 

 p. 143, 1903) and is known also from the Punjab, though it is very rare there (Baker, 1908). It is of 

 unusual occurrence also in Kathiawar and Guzerat as well as along the northern part of the west coast, 

 in the Deccan and in South Konkan, though common enough in Travancore (Hume and Marshall, 

 1879). In Ceylon it is of frequent occurrence and breeds in the northern and eastern sections while in 

 the west and southwest it seems to appear only during the northeast monsoon (Legge, 1880; Wait, 1917). 

 Throughout central and eastern India, north to the Himalayas it is fairly common everywhere in 

 suitable localities, apparently migrating locally according to the weather conditions. Baker (1908) 

 states that it is a fairly abundant bird in Madras but more abundant in Orissa. It is common and 

 resident in Lucknow (Jesse, 1903), but probably does not occur north of Nepal Terai (Hodgson, 1844; 

 Scully, 1881). All writers agree that its headquarters are lower and eastern Bengal, particularly the 

 Deltaic districts where it literally swarms (Hume and Marshall, 1879; Baker, 1908; Finn, 1909; etc.). 

 In this region it evidently goes north at least into the lower Himalayas, for the British Museum has a 

 specimen from Bhutan. In Assam it is a well-known species (Baker, 1908). 



The Goose Teal is probably found throughout the countries of Lower India and the Malay States. 

 In British Burma it is everywhere common (Blyth, 1875; E. W. Oates, 1883) as also in Arakan (Hop- 

 Malay wood, 1912). Rippon (1901) found it abundant in the Shan States, and Blanford (1898) 

 and Burma savs ft ; s plentiful in Pegu. It has been taken also in French Tonkin at Yen-bai (Kuroda, 

 1917), Annam, March 1909, by Vassal (M.C.Z.) and small flocks were seen south of Bangkok, Siam, 

 though it does not seem to occur very commonly in the interior of that State (Gyldenstolpe, 1913, 

 Cochin 1916; Barton, 1914; Baker, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 1920, p. 43). St. Pierre (British 

 China Museum) took a specimen in Cochin China, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology 

 has a specimen taken in Cochin China by Tirant, in October. It appears to be common in Tenasserim 

 as far south as Tavoy (Hume and Marshall, 1879) and must occur throughout that region for it was 

 found farther south in the Malay Peninsula. It is well known from the Andaman Islands (Kloss, 

 Malay 1903) though apparently it has never been taken in the Nicobars. On the Peninsula 

 Archipelago ft was f oimc i at Patelung (Bonhote, 1901) and according to Kelham (1882) is not 

 only abundant but breeds in the southern parts on the Perak River. 



In the Sunda Group the Indian Pygmy Goose is found on Sumatra (Lichtenstein, 1854) and on 

 Banka (Parrot, 1910). Vorderman (1883) and Koningsberger (1915) have recorded it from Java, and 

 Sunda there is one from Batavia in March (Bryant, M.C.Z.). Grabowsky (1885) met with 



Group small flocks about Danan Bangkan, southeastern Borneo, while according to Moulton 



(1914) specimens have been taken near Kuching in the Sarawak region. It has twice been taken 

 in Celebes, once at Minahassa and once at Manado (Meyer and Wiglesworth, 1898), both birds 

 probably having been stragglers. In the Philippines it has been met with by several observers on 



