Anas marila Linnæus, Fauna Suecica, ed. 2, (1761), 39.
Fuligula marila Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 355;
Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 223; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902),
2, 182; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 295.
Luzon (Parsons). Northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North America;
wintering on the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas and in
India, China, Japan, and Central America.
"Adult male.--Head, neck, upper part of breast and back black; sides of
the head and upper neck glossed with green; rest of back and scapulars
white, narrowly barred with black; rump, upper and under tail-coverts
black; lower breast, abdomen, and sides white; vent somewhat grayish;
sides with black barrings; upper wing-coverts blackish, finely
vermiculated with white; secondaries white, forming the speculum,
which is bounded below by a blackish band, in some specimens more or
less freckled with white; tertials blackish with a green gloss, the
largest ones more or less finely dusted with whitish; primaries grayish
brown, from the fourth quill with a whitish area on inner web, tips
black; marginal under wing-coverts grayish brown dusted with white,
the remainder, as well as axillars, white; tail blackish. Bill and legs
light lead-gray, webs and nail of bill blackish; iris yellow. Length,
about 457; wing, 235; tail, 74; culmen, 46; tarsus, 35.
"Female.--Fore part of head and chin white; rest of head, neck, and
breast brown; upper parts dark brown, back and scapulars slightly
vermiculated with white, under parts white below the breast;
flanks brown, more or less vermiculated with white; vent and under
tail-coverts dark brown, slightly vermiculated with white; wings
duller and browner than in the male, the upper wing-coverts much less
vermiculated with white. Bill and legs darker than in the male. Size
somewhat less.
"Young male has the white at base of bill like the adult female,
but it is of a darker and richer color.
"Male in first nuptial dress has less green metallic gloss on head and
neck; the black breast-feathers have white margins; the black under
tail-coverts are more or less vermiculated; in the vermiculations
of the lower mantle, scapulars, and wing-coverts the dark brown
predominates over the white.
"Males in molting plumage closely resemble adult females.
"Young in down.--'Crown, nape, and upper parts uniform dark
olive-brown; throat, sides of head, and fore part of neck yellowish
white; a dull grayish band crosses lower neck, rest of under parts
dull yellowish, flanks grayish yellow; upper mandible blackish, tooth
of beak yellowish; under mandible yellow.' (Dresser.)" (Salvadori.)