ICuvr. L\, ,, 



3..VI1AS. -»\ I'tJ.l ■*■* 



Apply the above to Jjalhain's dicUiiu tliat flocks of 

 the Pociiard have 110 particular shape in flying hut are 

 indeterminate and to Stuart-leaker's comment that flying 

 f)» vKisPc and not in line or V-sliape would appear to be 

 typical of all the true Pochards, and the explanation seems 

 to be that the True Ducks of the pointed wing and power- 

 ful flight have evolved the echelon as best suited to their 

 methods and ])urposes, while the sliort-winged Diving- 

 Ducks of laborious fliglit find it of no special advantage 

 to them. The danger of trying to lay down general rules 

 in Natural History is thus well exemplified when two 

 genera as closely allied can be found to difl"er so in one 

 salient characteristic. Among the followers of the eclielon 

 formation everi minor differences are to be seen — Pintail 

 fly in very regalar formation, changing position less than 

 do most Dncks. ( Sivnrt-Buki'r.) Wigeon fly in a line 

 nearly always irregular and altering much in shape as the 

 birds fly, the two ends generally thin, while towards tlie 

 centre the birds are more numerous (Stuart- Baker), and 

 tliey follow so close on the heels of their leader that it 

 forms a distinguishing peculiarity. (Meyer.) 



SUMMARY, KEY 14- 



A. — Birds that fly in Echelon or V- Formation. 



7 he True Dii':ki^ — especially Pintail — Very regular 

 formation, changing position less than most and Wigeon — 

 Generally fly in line formation, very close together, always 

 irregular and altering mueli in shape as the Inrds fly, 



V>. — Birds that fly en masse. 



29. Tfie Fochiirih. — He will he a very cool hand, or an 

 extremely acute observer who, in the hurry and heat of a 

 o\t rliea-l i^jq. (jiive, will be able to take stock of and distinguish the 



^W^5.) sound made in overhead flight by the various species. 

 There are however some kinds of Duck, especially the 

 Pochards, whose wings are shorter than those 'of the 

 ordinary Ducks, whose noise in flight is not to be 

 mistaken bv one who really knows. Few sportsmen- 

 naturalists prol)ably in this resjiect ever equalled 

 liume, who earned his experience from flight-shooting 

 at nioht. and what he and others have noticed is 

 certainly worth collecting and reproducing. Even Hume's 

 ])ractised ear, it is not superfluous to say, was sometimes 

 deceived. ''This last cold season,'' he wrote in Game 

 Birds of Britisli India, "coming down the Jumna at 

 nicfht, a bunch of fowl swept over us from astern and, as I 

 fired, I set them down as Red-crests. The night was 

 stormy, the lightning was flashing incessantly and there 

 was a b.ead wind with drizzling rain. One bird dropped 



Distinctive 

 noises m 



