INDIA N D UCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 251 



Hume giv(3S the exceptions to its habitat as follows: '' The Laccadives^ 

 the Andamans and Nicobars, Teuasserim, southern, central and north- 

 east of the Salwoin, and possibly Malabar." 



From these places must now be struck oft" the Andamans, Nicobars 

 and Malabar, in the latter place having been found frequently since 

 ** Game Birds " was written. 



In L?oge's " Birds of Ceylon " it is said not to CGCur in the Philli- 

 pines, but lately I have heard that it has been met with there also. 



Hum© seems to think that Querquedala clrcia arrives in India 

 earlier, if anything, tlian tlie present Teal, Init further observations have 

 shewn them to arrive at much the same time, though one year 

 the Garganey nay be first and the next year the Common Teal. 



In 18y8, I have had quite numerous records of their arrival in 

 Northern India and Assam in August, the earliest being that of a small 

 flock seen on the 22nd of that month. Hume says: " In the more 

 Northern Plains portion of the Empire, though a f«w are seen during 

 the latter half of September and exc!.>j)tional cases have been reported of 

 their appearance some weeks earlier even than this, I think we may 

 say tliat tlie first heavy 'flights arrive during the first week of October." 

 Hume, I thiLk, refers in this j)aragraph mainly to North-Eastern and 

 Centnd India, and it would therefore really seem as if the Connnon 

 Teal were earlier in Northern Bengal than in those parts, reversing 

 what is the usual rule with most, if not all, other migratory ducks. 

 By this I do not mean to say that the Teal are all with us by September 

 oven in the northern parts of Assam, but I do mean to say that by the 

 middle of that month they are quite common in many parts and in 

 some are fairly numerous by the second week. 



It is possible, indeed probable, that our Eastern birds are those wliich 

 come from China, and as they breed there as far south at least as the 

 40° latitude, ihey have not nearly so far to come as those wh;ch travel 

 from the West, few of whom really come from further south than 

 about the 50th degree. 



Teal are extremely variable in the numbers in which they collect. 

 Often they may be seen singly or in pairs, and at the same place 

 flocks may bo seen numbering their hundreds, even thou^ands. Tlio 

 largest flocks appear to bo mot with in Siiul and the north of 

 the North- West Provinces and the Puujal) and perhaps Northern 



