MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 143 



nearly a dozeu this year and secured eight. Mr. Stevens of Rangagora has shot 

 one and I have had several notices of its having been seen by others. On 

 nearly all occasions the birds are seen in twos, not necessarily pairs, as frequently 

 both birds prove to be males, and females are much less often seen than male?. 



E. C. STUART BAKER. 



Dibrugarh, Assam, JIarch 1903. 



No. XIV— FOOD OF THE HAMADRYAD OR KING COBRA. 



Referring to Vety. -Major G. H. Evans' paper on the Hamadryad in Vol. 

 XIV, No. 3, of this Journal the following note regarding the food of this 

 buake may be of interest : — 



While touring in the Trans Salween Shan States in February 1900, I shot 

 a hamadryad in the Me Hang stream. One of my men hung it up on a tree 

 close by. After watching its contortions for a few minutes — for it was not 

 quite dead — I was greatly surprised to see what appeared to be 2 or 3 inches of 

 the tail of a snake protrude from its jaws ; this I immediately laid hold of, and 

 extracted what turned out to be a cobra — a light-coloured variety in excellent 

 preservation so that it could not have been long swallowed. The lengths of 

 the hamadryad and cobra in the flesh were, respectively, 9 feet 8 inches and 

 4 feet. I procured the skins of both. 



W. H. CRADDOCK. 

 Kuala Lipis, Pahang. 

 (Federated Malay States), January 1903. 



No. XV.— OCCURRENCE OF THE COTTON TEAL {NETTAPUS 

 COROMANDELIANUS) IN STND. 



When shooting at a dhund near Sujawal last week I shot a Cotton Teal. I 

 see Oates in his " Game Birds of India " says that " this small duck has not 

 yet been observed in Sind." My shikari said that he had seen the duck 

 before, but that it was very seldom shot. The boatmen did not seem to 

 know it. In case this may interest you I am sending the duck for identification. 



J. W. PARTINGTON, Lieut., 



47th Battery, R. F. A. 



Karachi, January 1903. 



[Note, — There appears to be some doubt as to this teal occurring in Guzerat 

 and Sind so that the above record is interesting. Blanford says in Vol. IV, 

 Birds — Fauna of British India : — " In India this Teal is rare in Malabar, the 

 Bombay Presidency and Kattyawar and wanting in the desert parts of 

 Rajputana, in Sind and the Western Punjab." Oates in his " Manual of the 

 Game Birds of India/' Part II, says : " This small duck has not yet been 

 observed in Kashmir, in Sind or in Cutch and probably these tracts lie 

 outside its range." Stuart Baker in " Indian Ducks and their Allies," page 

 193, Vol. XI., of our Journal says: " In India proper it may be said to have 

 its stronghold in Eastern Bengal, is still very common in Western Bengal 



