THE GADWALL. 
283 
Genus CHAULELASMUS, G. R. Gray, 
644. CHAULELASMUS STREPERUS. 
THE GADWALL. 
Anas strepera, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 200 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 166. Chaulelasmus 
streperus, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 802 ; Dresser, Birds Uur. vi. p. 487, pi. ; David 
et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 499 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 115; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 362; 
Hume 8f Marsh. Game Birds, iii. p. 181, pi. 
Description. — Male. Head and neck greyish speckled with brown^ the 
crown and hind neck more uniformly brown ; back and upper scapulars 
dark brown closely vermiculated with fulvous -white ; longer scapulars 
brown broadly edged with fulvous ; rump and upper tail- coverts black ; 
tail pale grey edged with white ; lesser wing-coverts light brown stippled 
with grey ; median coverts chestnut ; greater coverts black, the exterior 
ones chestnut ; primaries and tertiaries ashy ; the earlier secondaries ashy, 
the next broadly edged with black on the outer webs, the later ones pure 
white on the outer web ; lower neck and breast dark brown, each feather 
with a semicircular edging of white ; abdomen and vent white speckled 
with brown ; under tail-coverts black ; sides of the body narrowly barred 
with brown and white. 
The female has the whole upper plumage, breast, sides of the body and 
under tail-coverts dark brown, each feather broadly edged with fulvous ; the 
head and neck greyish streaked with brown, the crown and hind neck more 
uniformly brown ; the wing wants the chestnut of the male, but there are 
frequently traces of chestnut on a few of the feathers ; the middle greater 
coverts are black, but not such a deep black as in the male ; and the middle 
secondaries are white, forming a patch, but not such a large one as in the 
male. 
Iris brown ; legs and feet orange ; bill in the male blackish^ tinged with 
reddish on the lower mandible, in the female brownish orange becoming 
black on the tip, nail and culmen. 
Length 20 inches, tail 4, wing 11, tarsus 1*4, bill from gape 2. The 
female is smaller, the wing being about 10 inches in length or even less. 
The Gadwall is said by Mr. Blyth to occur in Arrakan ; and as it is a 
Duck of wide distribution, it is not unlikely to be common in that Division. 
I have never shot it in Pegu ; nor has it been seen in Tenasserim. 
It inhabits the whole northern hemisphere from the tropic to the Arctic 
circle, wandering inside this latter in places, and also approaching the 
equator in small numbers. 
Wherever it may be found in Burmah it will be only as a winter visitor. 
In India it arrives in October and leaves at the end of March. Like most 
