274 
BIUDS OF BHITISH BURMAH. 
darker on the hind neck ; back and scapulars dark brown, each feather 
broadly edged with fulvous ; rump and the shorter upper tail-coverts 
black; the longer upper tail-coverts chestnut; tail brown; lesser and 
median wing-coverts chestnut ; greater coverts and quills ashy black ; 
breast yellowish^ shading gradually into the light chestnut of the lower 
plumage; under tail-coverts light fulvous. 
Bill^ legs and feet brownish blue, the nail of the bill nearly black ; iris 
brown ; eyelids bright yellow ; claws bluish horn-colour. 
Length 16 inches_, tail 2*3, wing 7'5, tarsus 1"7, bill from gape 1'9. The 
female is of the same size. 
The Lesser Whistling Teal is found abundantly over the whole Province, 
except perhaps in the Thayetmyo and Prome districts, where 1 procured 
only the next species. 
It is met with throughout nearly the whole of the Indian peninsula and 
Ceylon^ the Indo-Burmese countries, Siam, Cochin China, the Malay 
peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 
This very common Teal occurs on all large pieces of water covered with 
weeds, in marshes and inundated paddy-fields, and is a constant resident. 
Usually it associates in large flocks ; but in the breeding-season it is more 
frequently seen in pairs. It habitually perches on trees when not engaged 
in swimmings and is not often observed walking on the ground. It swims 
and dives well, and feeds almost entirely on vegetable food. I have fre- 
quently found its nest in Pegu in July and August — a mass of dead leaves 
and grass placed on a low thick cane-brake in paddy-land, and containing six 
very smooth white eggs. The site for the nest varies much, however ; and 
it is often placed in tall trees, either on a branch or in a hole in the trunk. 
At times the nest is on the ground. Those nests I myself found were 
invariably situated, as above described, on cane-brakes. 
637. DENDROCYGNA FULVA. 
THE LARGER WHISTLING TEAL. 
Anas fulva, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 630. Dendrocygna major, Jerd. Madr. Journ. 
1840, p. 218 ; id. III. Lid. Orn. pi. xxiii. ; id. B. Ind. ii. p. 790 ; Hume., S. F. iii. 
p. 193. Dendrocygna fulva, Selat. ^ Salv. P. Z. S. 1876, p. 372 ; Hume 8r 
Dav. S. F. vi. p. 488 ; Hmne, S. F. vii. p. 463 ; id. S. F. viii. p. 115 ; Pafker, 
S. F. ix. p. 487 ; Hume ^- Marsh. Game Birds, iii. p. 119, pi. ; Oates, S. F. x. 
p. 245. 
Description — Male and female. Forehead, crown and nape chestnut ; re- 
mainder of the head and upper neck paler chestnut ; a streak the whole 
way down the hind neck black ; fore neck and sides of the lower part of 
