THE sueW. 
Mergellus* albellus, Linné. 
ee ee 
Vernacular Names.—[Nihenne, Eidwah, N. W. Provinces; Ghotye, Chota- 
Khoruk, Cadul ; Boz-aurdak, (Turki) Yérkand ; i (eee 
0 
\\ UR information as to the distribution of this species is 
mola very defective. In the Himalayas it doubtless 
46/ occurs in many localities on passage ; but the only 
place from which it has been actually recorded is 
Kullu, where Mr. A. Grahame Young writes that it 
is common about the end of winter, and early in the 
So" spring. It is, as Adams correctly states, fairly 
common in winter on the lakes and rivers of the Punjab, 
from the Peshawer valley tothe Jumna. Great numbers used 
in old days to haunt the Najjafgarh Jhil, near Delhi, and 
they still occur there yearly, though in greatly diminished 
numbers, since the completion of the drainage works. It is 
comparatively rare in Sindh, (except perhaps on the Indus, and 
at the Manchar Lake,) and scarcely less so in Northern Gujerat. 
I have no record of its occurrence in Cutch, Kathiawar, Rajputana, 
Khandesh, the Central India Agency, the Central Provinces, 
or the North-West Provinces south of the Jumna ; but in the 
Doab, Rohilkhand and Oudh it is a regular, but scarce, visitant. 
I have no record of its occurrence anywhere else within the 
limits of the Empire, save Jerdon’s statement that it has been 
killed at Cuttack, where, however, it can scarcely have been 
more than an accidental strageler. 
It is said to be very common in winter on the lakes and 
rivers of Central China (it does not appear to occur far south), 
and to pass Pekin in spring in very large numbers. Prjevalski 
met with it on passage at the end of March, and during the 
early part of April at the Dalai-Nor and Lake Hanka, but did 
* TI cannot follow those authorities who treat this species as congeneric with the 
Mergansers. The much shorter, stouter and differently shaped bill, the different 
dentition (if I may apply this term to the arrangement of the lamellz) and the tail 
of 16 instead of 18 feathers, seem to me to justify generic separation. 
Since this was written I find that Naumann asserts that the tail, as often as not 
contains 18 feathers. J have only noted the number from six fresh specimens, and in 
all of these it was 16 ; but in over 30 specimens in our Museum, not one has more 
than this number. Still Naumann is a great authority. and probably had good 
giounds for what he wrote. 
