48 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



flowers, and not noticed the females at all. Young males are 

 like females; old birds in undress differ from them by retaining 

 the green-and-white wings. 



The beak of the cotton-teal is very short and goose-like, but 

 the tail is long for a duck's, and the bird, when nervous, 

 frequently wags it with a quick quivering action. The legs are 

 short and the feet large, and the birds swim and dive well, often 

 diving on alarm ; they do not, I think, regularly dive for food, 

 judging from their hesitation when they do so. 



Cotton-teal are found over the Empire generally in well 

 watered and wooded districts ; they are naturally therefore not 

 to be found in the dry parts of the North-west. 



The district where the species is most numerous is Bengal, 

 where it is called Ghangarial or Ghangani, but it penetrates 

 even to the Andamans and is well known in Ceylon. 



It likes weedy places, and small rather than large pieces of 

 water, and may be found even on wayside ditches, and bush- 

 surrounded pits ; it is generally seen in pairs or small parties of 

 less than a dozen, though Mr. E. C. S. Baker has seen as many 

 as a hundred in a flock. Its flight is very fast, and at the same 

 time it is an adept at twisting and dodging ; Hume never saw it 

 taken by the great foe of water-fowl, the peregrine falcon, the 

 tiny duck side-skidding from the stoop most dexterously, and 

 being below water before the enemy had recovered itself. The 

 flight is generally low, but when thoroughly frightened the 

 birds will go higher. 



The only weak point of the cotton-teal, in fact, is its walking 

 powers ; it is very seldom seen on land, and when it tries to go fast 

 or to turn round is apt to fall down ; but it is not correct to say it 

 cannot walk at all, as when not hurried it moves on land like 

 other ducks, though slowly and clumsily. This leg-weakness is 

 curious, as it is a perching-bird, roosting and building in trees, 

 so that one would expect it to be at least as strong in the legs as 

 other water-fowl, the perchers being usually good walkers also. 



The food of the cotton-teal is mainly vegetable ; it seems to 

 feed almost entirely on the surface, and pecks rather than 

 bibbles in the usual duck fashion ; it does not stand on its bead 

 and investigate the bottom like other ducks. As food it is no 



