|CuAi'. A, 



vvBA. ;^».l 50 



Oadwall. — They ave almost entirely vegetable-feeders, 

 «ai/s Smart- Baker, subsisting much on wild and cultivated 

 rice, water weeds, etc., and seldom \arying the diet with 

 animal fool. A drake shot in Silcliar was found to 

 contain mass of small white worms in addition to some 

 water-berries and half ripe rice, but this in no way atfected 

 the flesh. 



Common Ttcd. — They rarely feed on really dry land, 

 ^nys Stiinrt-Bnker, but freijuently in paddy-fields, etc., where 

 there are a few inches only of mud and water. They are 

 principally night feeders, but, where quite undisturbed, 

 they feed during all but the hottest hours of the day, 

 say from 11 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Their food is undoubt- 

 edly mainly vegetable, but they do not despise worms, 

 insects, etc., which may come in their way. For the 

 purpose of obtaining tlieir food their diving is said not to 

 extend beyond the peculiar semi-dive so often indulged in 

 by the domestic duck, which leaves the tail end well out 

 of the water. Even when it has finished feeding it remains 

 in among the weeds, reeds, and other cover near the shore. 

 Wiceon. — They are of course, urttes Sin art- Balder, 

 strong and expert divers, but do not feed, I think, on any 

 stuff which necessitates their going completely under 

 water. Of two birds shot in Silchar, the stomachs con- 

 tained nothing but the white tendril-like roots of a small 

 water-plant wliich growls profusely where the water is only 

 a few inches deep, ancl these the birds could obtain l)y 

 merely standing on their heads, as it were, in the water. 

 They graze a good deal, like geese, on young grass and 

 also young crops and in addition to various other vegetable 

 substances, eat water snails, worms, insects and shell-fish 

 of sorts, this more particularly near the sea-coast, where 

 they are often found in In-ackish estuaries or back-waters. 

 Morris writes, " This species feeds principally on water- 

 insects and tlieir larvae, small moUusca, worms, the fry 

 of fish, and frogs ; as also the buds, shoots and leave of 

 plants and grass, and these it browses on in the daytime; 

 but it chiefly seeks its food in the mornings and evenings 

 and also at times in the night. 



Pintail. — Their food, sapf* Sivart-Bnker, seems to 

 consist of small and fragile shell-hsh, but they also eat a 

 large variety of other animal matter, and are also to a 

 certain extent vegetarians. Unlike however the majority 

 of the Ducks, which are more animal than vegetable 

 feeders, ihe Pintail is among the very best of birds for 

 the table. 



Garqnney. — Their staple diet, says Stvart-B'iker, is 

 vegetarian, and of vegetable matter, the staple varieties 

 are rice, both cultivated and wild, various kinds of reeds 

 and roots and the young leaves and shoots of various 



