LARGE WHISTLER 59 



some people also think it better on the table. It is resident in 

 our Empire, but cannot be called a common, widely distributed 

 or abundant bird ; it only goes in small flocks, never in the 

 dense masses such as are seen in the case of the small whistler, 

 and is only really numerous in Bengal, though ii ranges east into 

 Burmah, west to the Deccan, and south to Madras. Outside 

 our Empire it is not found in Asia. 



It feeds on much the same food as the small whistler, with 

 an especial fondness for rice, wild or cultivated, and selects the 

 same situations for nesting as a rule, i.e., old nests, holes in 

 trees, or suitable boughs on which the birds make a nest of their 

 own ; they have not, however, as yet been found nesting on the 

 ground, but this is probably because they are so scarce and 

 local in comparison that there are not the same opportunities 

 for observation, or for variation in the birds' habits for that 

 matter, that there are in the case of the small common species. 



Although they are afraid of this bird, and less aggressive 

 with other ducks, they will fight readily enough with each 

 other in captivity, springing right out of the water and striking 

 with their feet. They also pair freely, unlike most of this 

 group, w4iich displaj'- little sex-proclivities in captivity, except 

 for tickling each other's heads like doves or love-birds. The 

 eggs are white, and rather larger than those of the common 

 whistler, though extremes meet. 



Outside Asia the large whistler, sometimes called the fulvous 

 duck, is found in tropical Africa and the warm regions of 

 America. This is a most extraordinary range for a bird that 

 does not undertake long migrations, and calls for considerable 

 elucidation ; there can be no doubt that the bird is greatly dis- 

 advantaged in India by the competition of its abundant and 

 aggressive relative, but then, on the other hand, it is far more 

 hardy, bearing the English winter outdoors when the small 

 kind looks thoroughly miserable and soon dies off, and even 

 breeding. So one would think that it might have colonized 

 cooler climates and struck out a line of its own ; but possibly 

 it once had a more northerly range, and has become reduced 

 to its present location by some cause which we do not at present 

 understand — at any rate, its persistence in indistinguishable form 

 all round the tropics is a unique phenomenon in bird-life. 



