[CilKV IX, 



PAHA. 29.) 46 



your gun barrels but. only the bird. Hume is tliinking 

 more of registerino- a body liit someuhere than of making 

 a ch^an kill. Pellets fired from behind will penetrate 

 thick plumage better than pellets fired from in front 

 because the former pass under the feathers whicli are 

 no longer in a position to turn them. Anyone who cares 

 for the niceties of shooting will, nevertheless, always try 

 and take two in front of him. 



NOTES OX INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



MallanL — The flight is very rapid and powerful and 

 each stroke of its wings is distinctly audible e\en at some 

 distance. (Sefhohm.) His liard-ciuillcd wings wliistle 

 against the air. {MacgilMvriy. 



Common Tenl and Gadwull. — The Gadwall reminds 

 one much of Teal as many obseivers have remarked, writes 

 iSluiirt-B iker, in the suishswish of the wings as the flock 

 hurtles overhead. 



ll/f/(o»<. — The flight of the Wigeon is accompanied 

 by a mucli harslier rustle (than that of the Pintail) which 

 can always be distinguished from that of the other fowl 

 that I know. (Hvme). Hume notes the peculiar rustle 

 by the Wigeon in flying; this is very distinctive, and 

 when close at hand sounds very different to the swish of 

 the Mallard or the sound of other ducks' flight. (Stvart.- 

 B'tlcj). When walking, swimming and flying, snys Hnwef 

 they often utter a shrill '' whew " (the origin probably of 

 the name), a sort of whistle by whicli you may know 

 them at any distance ; it is not a clear, full whistle like 

 a Curlew's, but a whistle — cry, rather discordant when 

 heard by day, but not without its charms when uttered at 

 niohl by large numbers, mingled with the call of many 

 other species and mellowed by the distance and the multi- 

 tudinous voices of wind and water. 



Fititnil. — When close to the hearer, says Sluart- 

 Bah.r, the sound of their flight is quite unmistakeable. 

 Less noisy and whirring than that of most of their near 

 relations, their fliglit has a soft swish-swish about it of a 

 very distinctive character. Hume says, speaking of their 

 flight, that it is a "low, soft, hissing swisli/" and thus 

 describes it very exactly. 



Garget ney. — Whether it is only because one habi- 

 tually meets them in sucli large flocks, sap» Hutne, or 

 whether it is really peculiar to them, 1 do not know, but 

 cerlaiuly one associates the overhead flight of this species 

 with a surging hiss, more even, sustained and rushing 

 than that of any of our other ducks. Anyone who has 

 stood under heavy round- short fire knows the way in which 

 shot hurtle up to you crescendo and die away as they pass; 

 and just in this way (though "the sounds are in a wholl} 



