THE CRESTED OR BRONZE-CAPPED TEAL. 233 
commonly on the Boganida in 70° North Latitude, to which 
point apparently the Bronze-cap does not extend. 
The majority of the Clucking Teal breed north of the lati- 
tude of Lake Baikal—the majority of the Crested Teal in the 
samé or even a more southern latitude, the Amoor country 
being apparently its summer head-quarters. No doubt some 
must breed further north, since Middendorff tells us that it 
“breeds plentifully in the Stanowoy Mountains, and nearly to the 
tops of the ranges,” and if it breeds high up in these mountains, 
it must needs breed a good deal further north in the plains. 
Dybowski, writing of Western Dauria and the country round 
the south of Lake Baikal, says :—“ The Crested Teal arrives 
during the latter half of April in great numbers; but few 
remain to breed in the neighbourhood of Kultuk, but in the 
Darasun region it is more common. The female makes her 
nest amidst the bushes of swamps, collecting dry reeds and 
erass, and lining it thickly with down. At the beginning of 
June she lays eight eggs, sits closely, and only rises at your feet. 
They remain in autumn as late as the 27th of September.” And 
Taczanowski, describing eggs collected by Dybowski, says :— 
“The eggs are decidedly smaller than those of the Mallard, and 
in colour resemble those of the Gadwall, though the yellow tinge 
is somewhat more pronounced. They vary from about 2'1 to 
2°3 in length, and from about 1'52 to nearly 1°7 in breadth.” 
Dresser thus describes an egg, taken on the 8th of June at 
Tolstoi-Mir on the Yenesay River :—‘In colour it is pale 
creamy white, resembling the egg of the Common Wigeon; in 
texture it is very smooth, and in shape longer and more pointed 
than the egg of the last named bird. It measures 2°22 by 
I°5 inches,” 
THE FOLLOWING are the dimensions and other particulars of 
the male that I obtained in the Calcutta bazar :— 
Male.—Length, 19°75 ; expanse, 32°5; wing, 9°5; tail from 
Wemins 2 - tarsus. t:5); bill trom) cape, 2-1; weicht, 1 tb. 6 ozs. 
Irides deep brown; bill perfectly black; legs and feet drab, 
with an olive tinge; the webs, except immediately alongside 
the toes, (where they are unicolorous with these) and claws, 
dusky black. 
A frontal spot ending in a point on the culmen, about 0-4 
long and 0°3 wide, pure white. 
Of another Indian-killed male, the wing measures also 9'5 ; 
of the female, 91. 
Schrenk gives the following dimensions* of five old males 
and three old females :-— 
Males—Wings, 10°15 to 10'7; tails, 3°39 to 3°85; bills at 
front, 1°75 fo 1-84; tarsi, 1°58 to 1°65. 
* He uses the old French foot, inches and lines. I have given the equivalents in 
English inches and decimals. 
Bet 
