2ri2 JOVRNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY , Vol. XII. 



llujputnna. In these places tliey arc to be seen literally in flocks of 

 many hundreds and frequently of thousands. On the Sunder bands I 

 think I have seen as many as five hundred in a flock ; in the famous 

 Chill;a Lake I have been told of their rishig in vast flocks which nmst 

 liavo been nearly a thousand strong, and from other parts of India 

 reports are given of" flocks numbering hundreds. 



The most common sized flock all over their range may be some- 

 where between twenty and forty, and in Southern India, u'., from Mysore 

 t« Ceylon, anything over the latter number is rare, though even in the 

 island Mr. G. Simjison, as quoted by Legge, says : " In the Island of 

 Delft and at the Palverainkadoo lagoon, on the north-west coast, it 

 appears yearly in thousands in November, leaving at the end of 

 February." 



The Common Teal is one of the most attractive of the duck tribe 

 to the sportsman, both from its being so numerous and from its habits* 

 Although mainly a night feeder, yet in places, where its food-supi)ly 

 lies in the flooded rice fields and the edge of swamps, bhils, etc., it will 

 continue to feed for an hour or so after daylight and even when it has 

 finished feeding it remains in amongst the weeds^ reeds and other cover 

 near the shores. It thus affords excellent sport whether with a dog or 

 two or a few beaters, or Irom some small dag out, poled quietly along 

 by a single nuin in the stern. The Teal often lay cTose enough to allow 

 of constant shots at from twenty-five to forty vards and, as they otten 

 scatter a good deal even when resting, two or three shots may be 

 obtained at the same flock. In this way on large sheets a good bag- 

 may bo made before the birds get scored and leave altogether or els« 

 rise far out of shot. 



Nowhere in Bengal have I found Teal to be of a very confiding nature, 

 but that they are so in some i)arts of their Inditui habitats is well 

 known. Hume writes: " They are, as a rule, when met with near villages 

 or in densely-populated portions of the country, excessively tame — too 

 ttime to render shooting them possilde unless you really require them 

 for tbo(l. Not only will they let you walk up to them when thoy are on 

 a village pond — as close as you jdease — but when you have fired at thetn 

 ajid killed two or three, the remainder, after a short flight, will again 

 Fettle, as often as not, well within shot. Nay, at times, though flutter- 

 ing a good deal, and looking about as if ivstonished, they will not rise 



