DUCKS. 
343 
bronzy green speculum formed by their outer webs, except at the tips. The beak 
and legs are leaden and blackish. In size, this bird corresponds closely with the 
ordinary sheldrake. Some of the favourite breeding-places of the Braminy are the 
great lakes of the Tibetan Highlands, such as the Pangkong and Tsomorari, on the 
former of which the writer has seen them in numbers. In such regions these 
birds build in clefts or cavities of rocks; but in other districts the nests are more 
commonly placed in burrows and other holes, while in Mongolia they have even 
been known to be situated in the fireplaces of deserted villages. Visiting the 
country during the winter in myriads, Braminys at that season are to be met with 
on every piece of water in India; and, as Mr. Hume observes, no object is more 
familiar in river scenery “ than a pair of these ducks, standing or squatting, side 
by side on the banks, or on some chur [island]; no sounds are more perpetually 
heard as one floats lazily down with the stream, than their loud warning notes, 
repeated more earnestly as one draws nearer and nearer, and followed by the sharp 
patter of their wings as they rise on the approach of the boat. Very wary they 
are, and yet not at all afraid of men, so long as they keep just out of gunshot.” 
Uneatable except when skinned, and then by no means a bonne bouche, the Braminy 
is most cordially detested by the 
Indian sportsman, as its harsh 
cry and noisy flight puts up all 
other water-fowl in the neigh¬ 
bourhood while still beyond 
shooting-range. 
The beautiful 
The True Ducks. , , „ , 
wild duck or mallard 
{Anas boscas ) is the typical repre¬ 
sentative not only of the true 
ducks of the genus to which it 
belongs, but likewise of all the 
freshwater non-diving ducks of 
the present subfamily; the gen¬ 
eral characters of which have 
already been mentioned under 
the head of the sheldrakes. The 
true ducks are characterised by 
having the broad and depressed beak about equal in length to the head, with 
its sides either parallel or partially dilated, and both mandibles provided 
with well - marked transverse lamellse on their inner edges; the oval nostrils 
being situated in advance of its base. The legs are shorter than in the 
sheldrakes, and placed nearly under the centre of the body, with the metatarsus 
somewhat rounded in front. The wings are rather long and pointed; while 
the tail, which may be either pointed or wedge-shaped, is comparatively 
short. Of the true ducks there are numerous species, with a cosmopolitan 
distribution; and while in the wild duck the plumage of the two sexes is very 
distinct, this is not the case in some species, such as the Indian spot-bill duck 
{A. jpaicilorhyncha). 
WILD DUCK. 
