53 , Chaps. A »S; XJ, 



1'AUA.s. :>0 A: ;{l.j 



SUMMARY, KEY 16. 



A. — Mainly Vegelahh Feeders. 



Spotbill. Wigeon. 



Mallard. CJaroanoy TeaL 



Gadwall (pavticulaily). Marbled Duck. 



The Pochard. 



B. — Mairdy Animal Feeders. 

 Pintail, | Shoveller. 



White-eye (in particular). 



A. — Sometimes /eed on Dry Land. 

 Wigeon (frequently). | Spotliill. 

 Common Teal (rarely'. 

 B.—Feed in— 



(i) Deep Water. | (ii) Shallow, on surface. 



Tlie Poeliards. j The True Ducks. 



A. — Mainly Nocturnal Feeders. 

 The True Ducks. | The Pochards. 



R. — Mainly Diurnal Ferders. 

 The Pochards other than the Pochard. 



CHAPTER XI 



Size of Mocks. 



31. There is no subject on which is less easy to dog- bq^^i^ 

 matise than on the average size of the flocks in which any av(;nige si/e 

 given species is found. Where the country and habitat Pj^g^P^y^x 

 are suitable, birds will keep together in large bodies ; where 

 they are not, birds break up into small parties and may 

 even be found in pairs or singly. In the Key an attempt 

 is made to show those species which habitually, on big- 

 waters in Upper India, keep to large, and those which 

 habitually keep to smaller, flocks, where one hundred or 

 over is called "large," but of course the generali.^ation 

 is a vague one. "Flock," as used in the Individual 

 Notes below, will be seen to be a term employed by most 

 writers of the birds at rest and undisturbed, e. q., in the 

 daytime after feeding, or even on arrival in migration. 

 These are the occasions when the birds mass together. 

 Once they are flred at, even on the big lakes, the flocks 

 tend to break up into small parties. The writer is here 

 forcibly reminded of the dangers of generalisation when 

 he recalls the behaviour of Spotbill on a certain grey day 

 with a gale of wind blowing on one of the great waters 

 of Northern India. His Key says that the Spotbill is a 

 bird usually to be found in small parties and pairs, and 



