38 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



being held in the hand. Grebes will also do this, so that even 

 in captivity this species retains the grebe-like w^ays which 

 characterize it when wild. It may also be mentioned that the 

 under plumage, though buff and not white, has the silvery lustre 

 of a grebe's. Very grebe-like was the behaviour of a female 

 procured at Peshawar by Captain Macnab, I. M.S., in 1899. A 

 hawk also tried to " collect" it, but as soon as he made his point 

 above, the duck went under, and after coming up close b}^ dived 

 again, till after about five minutes the hawk went off in disgust. 

 The tail, at full cock when swimming, was straightened out as 

 the bird went down. The call is said to be a grating, quacking 

 note, and the food to consist of small water creatures and 

 vegetable substances. But, as a matter of fact, little has been 

 observed about this bird's habits, though it is widely distri- 

 buted in a sort of central zone, from the Mediterranean region 

 east to our borders. Personally, I believe it breeds in India, 

 because a specimen shot near Hardoi was moulting and had no 

 quills grown. None of our winter water-fowl moult while they 

 are with us, so far as I am aware, while the residents can moult 

 at any time they like, having no long journey to take. How- 

 ever, one must not forget that it is in its winter quarters in 

 South Africa that the common swallow moults. 



The nest in any case is nothing out of the ordinary, being 

 built among the waterside vegetation and composed of it ; but 

 the eggs are, being remarkable for their coarseness of surface 

 and large size in proportion to the bird, though their colour is 

 simply white. The ducklings are dark brown in the down, 

 with white on the under-parts, conspicuous on the throat and 

 sides of neck, and there are some faint white spots on th(i3 upper 

 surface. 



Goldci\-cyc. 



Clangula glaucion. Burgee, Punjabi. 



It is not surprising that this, the genuine golden-eye, should 

 be often mixed up by Indian sportsmen with the tufted pochard, 

 since both are pied diving-ducks with yellow eyes ; but in reality 

 they are quite easily distinguishable even at a distance, for in the 



