i 78 THE PINK-HEADED DUCK.
damaged, and she fell rather than settled in a patch of grass
on dry land. Upon approaching this a similar manoeuvre was
gone through, and she deposited herself some 100 yards further
on. Having decoyed us thus far she flew up into the air
with such facility that our old shikaree mahout could not help
exclaiming phair jce gya (it's come to life again), and directed
her flight in a direction away from the piece of water. After
describing a considerable circuit, she came back to the jhil on
the banks of which we were still standing. Two more bullets
were fired at her from the same gun, which only made her rise
after each shot, and settle down again some 10 yards further
on. Seeing that her tactics had failed in withdrawing us from
the vicinity of her young, she again took to the grass jungle,
and all endeavours to flush her again proved futile, though she
was observed in the same piece of water subsequently."
A great number of ducks and other birds resort to similar
artifices to decoy intruders away from the neighbourhood of
their nests and young ; but in no species is this habit more
noticeable than in the Common Lapwing.
The eggs are quite unlike those of any other duck with
which I am acquainted. In shape they are very nearly spherical
; indeed one is almost a perfect sphere.
The shell is very close and compact, but not particularly
smooth or satin}' to the touch, and is entirely devoid of gloss.
In colour it is a dull, nearly pure white, with here and there
traces of an extremely faint yellowish mottling, probably the
result of dirt. Even held up against the light, the shell is
white, with a scarcely perceptible ivory tinge.
The five eggs sent me by Mr. Shillingford measure as
follows:—r82 X 1 7 ; 178 x r68 ; r8 X 1-62; 1 7 1 X l'6g ;
r8i x r6i.
There is no possible doubt, now, that these eggs, taken at
two different times by two different persons, are really the eggs
of the Pink-headed Duck ; but at the same time it must be
admitted that they are eggs that no one versed in Oology
could, without positive proof, have accepted as pertaining to this
species.
I AM very badly off for measurements, 8rc, of this species.
Mr. Shillingford gives the following particulars of two specimens,
sexes not ascertained :—
"Length, 24, 22; wing, 1075, IO'O; tail, 475, 4-5 ; tarsus,
20, 2'0 ; bill at front, 2-37, 2-25. Of the second specimen only,
expanse, 34-5 ; weight, 2 lbs. 8 ozs. Troy !"
Of the first: "Bill dirty red ; cere (?) flesh coloured; irides
deep orange red ; legs and feet reddish slate. Of the second :
"Bill light pink, assuming a purple tint towards gonys ; cere*
* I do not understand wliat is meant by a duck's cere.
THE PINK-HEADED DUCK. 179
flesh coloured ; irides deep orange ; tarsus, web, and nails dark
slate, inclining to purple ; lower mandible more deeply coloured
than upper."
Hodgson gives the following of an ascertained female:—
" Length, 23'0 ; expanse, 3<5'0 ; tail, 4'5 ; tarsus, (but this is
to the sole of the foot) 2'l8 ; weight, 2 lbs.
"Iris yellow brown ; bill grey with a rosy tint; legs dusky."
Jcrdon says of the male :—
"Bill reddish white, rosy at the base, and faintly bluish at the
tip ; irides fine orange red ; legs and feet blackish, with a tinge
of red. Length, 24 inches ; wing, 11*5 ; extent, 39; tail, 4'25 ;
bill at front, 2'25 ; tarsus, 2*25 ; mid-toe, 2'37."
This is by no means all that could be desired, and it is to be
hoped that all sportsmen who shoot these ducks, for some time
to come, will carefully record measurements, weight, and colours
of the soft parts ; and, after ascertaining the sex of their specimens,
favour me with these particulars.
THE PLATE.—The figure in the foreground would be a very
fair representation of an adult male, had not the artist chosen
to colour the soft parts after the plate in Gray's 111. Gen. of
Birds, and quite wrongly.
But it must be understood that even adult males vary a good
deal in plumage, and in a specimen now before me the
entire upper and under surface of the body is much darker,
and much more nearly black than in the particular specimen
figured, while the green of the tertiaries is also much less bright.
In this specimen, too, obtained on the 7th of March, there is
a distinct, though short, half-coronal, half-occipital, crest, of
a brighter and purer rosy than the pink of the rest of the head.
The figure in the background is said to be that of a young
bird just able to fly. I have never seen such a specimen, but the
figure was taken, I believe, from one in some museum at home ;
and except in the matter of the colour of the bill, which was
probably grey, is perhaps a fairly correct representation of
the young.
Of (I presume) somewhat older birds, Jerdon says:—
"The young have the head and neck pale vinous-isabella
colour, with the top of the head, nape, and hind neck brown ;
the whole plumage lighter brown, in some mixed with whitish
beneath."
Hodgson figures a female, adult according to him but which
is probably not fully so, which has the head, including chin and
throat, rosy; the upper neck all round pale whitey brown, with a
rosy tinge, and with a brown band down the centre of crown,
occiput and nape; the lower neck all round pale brownish
white, with large, dark-brown, closely-set roundish spots, and
the entire breast and abdomen white or yellowish white,