45G Itinerary in the district of Amherst, Tenasserim. [No. 5. 



longest, 2nd subequal. 4i\" . Shorter, 1st one inch shorter. Tail 

 round, acuminate, rather short : coverts long. 14 rectrices with 

 stiff strong quills. Plumage as in Anas, i. e. not so dense as in the 

 Grebes, or Coots. 



Color. Male. Iris sepia. Bill horny yellow, dark on culmen and 

 green on forehead. Legs a delicate rice-green, the lobes margined 

 yellow and claws whitish. All upper parts olive -brown, reddest and 

 clearest on wings and tail, and on top of back dulled with greenish 

 ashy. Crown and mesial nape a clearer ashy blue green. Forehead 

 extending in a point to vertex, and again laterally over each eye, 

 black, which covers also chin, face, throat and anteal neck, ending 

 in a point half way to breast. This black space is margined all 

 round with white, starting from posterior canthus of eye, and 

 another small space of white borders the bill at lorum. Breast and 

 Hanks pale ashy olive brown, femorals the same. Under tail-coverts 

 and flanks next belly barred white. Belly and lower breast dull 

 brownish white. 



Female. Has the iris straw-color ; chin, throat and anteal neck, 

 where black in the male, white with a margin all round of black, 

 which extends a little over lorum, and has the same white outer 

 border, as has the black mask of the male. Csetera pares. 



These very rare birds in Tenasserim are met with in shady, deep, 

 narrow streams in forests, whether in the tide-way, or remotely 

 inland. They swim rapidly : but seldom dive, and although emi- 

 nently aquatic in conformation, resort, strange to say, for safety to 

 land. Scrambling up the steep banks when shot at, and running 

 with unexpected rapidity into dense thickets, its flight is like that 

 of the Coot, or Water-hen : squattering along the surface of the 

 water. The eggs I have not seen. 



