Anas luzonica Fraser, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1839), 113; Salvadori,
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 205; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899),
1, 216; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 37.
Du-ma-ras', Manila; da-mu-l'og, Ticao.
Catanduanes (Whitehead); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Lubang (McGregor);
Luzon (Cuming, Jagor, Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor, Worcester);
Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns and Worcester); Mindanao
(Mearns); Mindoro (McGregor); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Samar
(Whitehead); Siquijor (Steere Exp.); Ticao (McGregor).
"Adult male and female.--General plumage brownish gray, almost uniform,
without any dark markings in the center of the feathers; upper part
of head and upper part of nape blackish brown; superciliary stripe,
sides of head, throat, and sides of upper part of neck rufous;
a blackish brown band runs across the eyes from lores to occiput;
back dark gray, changing into brown on rump and upper tail-coverts;
wing-speculum glossy green, bounded anteriorly by a velvety black
band at the tip of greater wing-coverts and by a narrower white one
at the tip of the last row of median upper wing-coverts; posteriorly
the speculum is bounded by a velvety black, subapical band, and by
a narrow, apical, white band; under wing-coverts and axillars white;
under parts brownish gray, deepening into brown on under tail-coverts;
tail brown; colors of the bill and feet not recorded, but apparently
dark olive. Length, about 500; wing, 250; tail, 114; culmen, 51;
tarsus, 43.
"Young.--Similar to the adults, only much paler on the head and throat,
which are scarcely tinged with rufous; the speculum less bright,
and with some purple reflections." (Salvadori.)
Iris brown; bill dark blackish blue, its nail black; legs and claws
dark brown. A male from Luzon measures: Length, 635; wing, 262;
tail, 114; exposed culmen, 51; bill from nostril, 40; tarsus, 43;
middle toe with claw, 63.
The Philippine mallard does not often occur in large numbers; usually,
however, it may be found in pairs in tide creeks, small ponds, or
other suitable localities.
"We found this fine mallard to be rare in all the localities visited by
us with the single exception of the region about the town of Milagros,
on the west coast of the Island of Masbate. In the last-mentioned
district it was very abundant, occurring in great flocks." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)
"Extraordinarily abundant on the Abulug River in northern Luzon in
March, 1906. Flocks of twenty-five to two hundred were constantly
met with on the lower river." (Worcester.)
Genus POLIONETTA Oates, 1899.
A wide yellow band across the tip of bill, otherwise like Anas from
which it is scarcely separable.