The Search for the Pink-Headed Duck

Houghton Mifflin, 1991. Hard cover. Very Good/Very Good. 17x94x137. The pink-headed duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) is a large diving duck that was once found in parts of the Gangetic plains of India, parts of Maharashtra, Bangladesh and in the riverine swamps of Myanmar but feared extinct since the 1950s. Numerous searches have failed to provide any proof of continued existence. It has been suggested that it may exist in the inaccessible swamp regions of northern Myanmar and some sight reports from that region have led to its status being declared as "Critically Endangered" rather than extinct. Of all the hardships a traveler might face--war, plague, earthquakes, bad potato salad--few are as daunting as dealing with the Indian civil service. So we learn from Rory Nugent, a journalist and sailor who got it in his head some years ago that he had to catch a glimpse of Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, the Himalayan pink-headed duck last seen in 1935. Having finally made his way through the Calcutta bureaucracy to obtain a visa to northwestern India, Nugent was obliged to survive encounters with pirates, Gurkha separatists, Tantrist necrophiliacs, a curse on his head, suspect food, a raft trip down the malarial Brahmaputra River, and an endless-loop cassette of Jethro Tull's greatest hits. Nugent may or may not have spotted his duck by journey's end (his sighting is unconfirmed), but in this amusing and eventful account, the search for the creature is a worthy end in itself.