Anas querquedula Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 126.
Querquedula circia Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27,
293; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 449, fig. 117
(head).
Querquedula querquedula Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 220; Oates,
Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 175; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 38.
Calayan (McGregor); Luzon (McGregor). Northern Europe and northern
Asia, wintering in northeastern Africa, Indian Peninsula, China,
and Malay Archipelago.
"Adult male.--Upper part of head and occiput brown-black; from above
eyes, on each side of head, a whitish band, extending to the sides
of occiput; sides of head and upper part of neck chocolate-brown,
streaked with white; chin black; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts
blackish, each feather edged with grayish olive; scapulars elongated
and pointed, black, with a central stripe of white; breast with brown
and black crescentic bands, producing a scaly-like appearance; lower
breast white; abdomen, sides, and flanks white, waved with narrow
blue lines; longer feathers of the flanks bounded by a subapical white
band, and a bluish gray band at the tip; sides of the rump and under
tail-coverts whitish, with black spots; upper wing-coverts and outer
scapulars bluish gray; wing-speculum on the secondaries glossy green,
bounded anteriorly by a white band formed by the greater wing-coverts,
and posteriorly by another white band at the tip of the secondaries;
primaries and tail-feathers brown, the latter edged with whitish;
under wing-coverts dark gray, the central ones, like the axillars,
white. Bill black, iris hazel; legs, toes, and their membranes grayish
brown. Length, about 406; wing, 197; tail, 70; culmen, 41; tarsus, 30.
"Female.--Upper parts dark brown, each feather with a pale margin;
broad superciliary stripe whitish; a dusky band behind eyes; sides
of head and neck whitish, streaked with black; chin and throat
white; feathers of the lower fore neck blackish, with whitish edges;
breast and abdomen white; sides, vent, and under tail-coverts white,
with brown-black spots; wings grayish brown; a dull metallic green
speculum, bounded anteriorly and posteriorly by two white bands; under
wing-coverts brown, margined with white, the greater ones pure gray,
the central ones, like the axillars, white. Size smaller than that
of the male.
"Young in first plumage resemble the females, but are darker and more
suffused with rufous on the breast.
"'Adult males in molting plumage closely resemble adult females,
but are darker in color, and may be distinguished by the brighter
alar speculum.' (Seebohm.)
"'Downy nestling resembles that of the mallard, but it is smaller,
and has a broad unbroken buff streak above the eye, and a well-defined
dark streak through the eye.' (Yarrell.)" (Salvadori.)
In immature plumage this species is likely to be confounded with
Nettion crecca and must be determined with care. The adult males of
the two species are very different.
Genus SPATULA Boie, 1822.
This genus is characterized by the peculiar bill which is twice as
wide near the tip as at the base; sides of upper mandible turned
under near tip.