Anas zonorhyncha Swinhoe, Ibis (1866), 394; Salvadori, Cat. Birds
Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 211.
Polionetta zonorhyncha Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 217; McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 37.
Calayan (McGregor). Eastern Siberia, Mongolia, China, Japan,
Kurile Islands.
"Adult male.--Upper part of head and a broad stripe from lores through
eyes to some distance behind them dark brown; superciliary stripe,
sides of head, and throat whitish; from gape toward eyes a slightly
indicated dusky band, formed by dusky streaks; upper parts brown,
back and scapulars paler, with edges of feathers pale grayish; rump
and upper tail-feathers uniform dark brown; lower part of fore neck
and upper breast dull whitish buff, with centers of the feathers
dusky; lower breast and abdomen almost uniform brown, deepening into
black-brown on under tail-coverts; wings brown; speculum glossy blue,
more or less with a green luster, bordered anteriorly and posteriorly
by two velvety black bands; tips of the secondaries narrowly edged
with white; tertials brown, with only the apical part of outer web
white; tail brown, the edges of the feathers whitish. 'Bill black,
with the apical portion, except the tip of the nail, yellow, no red
spots at base; feet light bright red, the web slightly dusky; iris
yellowish brown.' (Holst.) Length, about 580; wing, 295; tail, 117;
culmen, 56; tarsus, 44.
"Female.--Smaller and paler, the feathers of the breast for a greater
extension than in the male having broader whitish edges.
"Young.--Paler even than the female, with smaller dusky spots on the
under parts; edges of upper wing-coverts pale; a broad subapical white
band across the greater wing-coverts, and the outer web of tertials
for the most part white." (Salvadori.)
On December 7, 1903, a dozen birds of this species were observed in
Calayan. A female, the only specimen killed, measured 560 in length;
wing, 267; tail, 99; exposed culmen, 53; bill from nostril, 42;
tarsus, 44; middle toe with claw, 37. Bill jet-black with a broad
tip of bright yellow; most of the nail black; iris tan-brown; legs
and feet light salmon; nails black; webs dusky.
Genus MARECA Stephens, 1824.
Bill small, shorter than head, depressed and slightly narrowing toward
tip, nail large; wings long and pointed.