276 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
coverts black; tlie secondaries glossed with bronze^ the scapulars with 
purple_, the other parts with green and blue ; lower back grey ; tail umber- 
brown. 
The female is very similar to the male in general appearance, but is 
much smaller ; the head and neck are more spotted with black ; the 
metallic gloss on the upper plumage is much reduced in amount, and the 
whole rump and upper tail-coverts as well as the lower back are grey ; 
there is no fleshy process on the upper mandible. 
Iris dark brown; bill and comb black ; legs and feet dark plumbeous. 
Length 80 inches, tail Q, wing 15, tarsus 3, bill from gape 2" 6. The 
female is much smaller, the wing being about II or 11"5 inches. The 
fleshy comb on the bill of the male is about 2 inches high in the breeding- 
season, and very small and inconspicuous at other times. 
The Comb Duck is very abundant in suitable localities throughout Pegu. 
I observed it in the Engmah swamp and also in the large marshes near 
Payagalay, about thirty miles north of the town of Pegu ; and I have met 
with it in small quantities near Kyeikpadein in paddy-fields. Capt. Ward- 
law Ramsay noticed it at Tonghoo. Mr. Davison did not meet with it in 
any part of Tenasserim ; but it will probably be found in that Division ; 
and the same may be said of Arrakan, for Mr. Blyth remarks that it is 
common in Burmah, showing, I think, that he had received it from various 
quarters. 
It occurs throughout the Indian peninsula and Ceylon, and probably 
also in the Indo-Burmese countries. 
This fine Duck is a constant resident in Bnrmah, being found singly, in 
pairs, or in small flocks of twenty or thirty individuals in all the larger 
swamps, and at times even in paddy-fields. It is a tree-Duck, often 
perching on trees and making its nest in the holes of trees or on the 
larger branches. 
