INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 29 



and other undesirable birds, such as "Water Hens, Jacanas, etc., 



were en evidence in every quarter ; still the continuous popping of the 



guns along the line showed that all the birds were not undesirable ones. 



Amongst the "Whistlers overhead there would appear a flock of swifter, 



more quickly wheeling, birds, as the Blue-wing Teal came through them 



roused by one of the other boats, or a flock of Common Teal, flying in 



much the same manner, would rush down nearly the whole line, a splash 



or two in the water marking the members of their mess whom they had 



left behind. The duck however got up in front and went straight away, 



seldom wheeling within reach of even the outermost boats, though now 



and then a flock sweeping past high overhead would ofi^er a difficult and 



often useless shot. The Gadwall, which were generally only in small 



flocks, were usually found where there was a certain amount of cover 



which, assimilating with the green screens on our boats, allowed us 



often to get within shot. They dive and swim very well when only 



wounded, and many a ten minutes was spent in retrie-\ing such, for 



whose sake we generally kept a stock of No. 8 cartridges ready at hand 



to use instead of the No. 4 or 7 we used for the others. About 10 a.m. 



our boats all worked in towards some fixed point, and from about 11 a.m. 



to 1 p.m. was given up to lunch and smoke and an examination of the 



bag. Between 1 and 2 p.m. we would again embark, and the same 



routine was gone through, only reversed, and the shooting through the 



rice-fields was the finale, not the commencement, of the afternoon's 



programme. It was seldom on such days that the three guns, 



who were generally out, could not get their fifty couple of game 



birds, by which I mean that Whistlers, Cotton Teal, and even 



snipe did not count towards the bag. As a rule the comparative 



number of snipe would be small, as they were not shot at except 



at the commencement and end of the day's shooting ; and we always 



considered the bag good or otherwise according to the number of 



Gadwall, Pintail, and other big duck contained in it. 



I have no record now of what we got, but certainly we often got fifteen 

 couple of Gadwall, and sometimes over thirty, whilst on one occasion, 

 I think, the three of us got over forty couple. 



The Gadwall did not seem to mind much what sort of water it was 

 in ; early in the mornings and late in the evenings they were to he 

 found in the rice-fields, generally, as I have already said, in some corner 



