INTRODUCTION. 



IN 1896 and the following years I wrote a series of articles- 

 on " Indian Ducks and their Allies " in the Journal of 

 the Bombay Natural History Society. In 1908 these articles 

 were brought up to date, corrected and added to and appeared 

 in book form, and so well was this volume received by the 

 public, especially by sportsmen in India, that the edition was 

 soon exhausted. 



The first edition appeared principally to meet a want 

 which had long been felt by Small-Game shooters in India. 

 that is to say a volume, reference to which would not only 

 show how each duck could be identified, but would also give 

 some idea of its habits and its scarcity or the reverse. Hume 

 and Marshall's " Game Birds of India," which was published 

 in 1879-80, grand book as it was and is, was felt to be behind 

 the times, and much had since been recorded in various 

 magazines and journals. But these records were scattered 

 here, there and everywhere, and could not be consulted without 

 the greatest difficulty, and it was, indeed, quite impossible for 

 anyone who had not access to a very complete library to say 

 what had, and what had not, been recorded. 



The first edition may be said not only to have served its 

 purpose for the time being, but it served yet another and 

 perhaps even more important one, for since its appearance a 

 very large amount of information has been published to add to 

 and correct its contents. 



This second edition incorporates these additions and 

 corrections, and adds a considerable amount of matter not 

 obtainable by me when writing in India. Several species 

 have been added to the Indian list, and the geographical 

 distribution of certain others has been more correctly given. 



Sub-species have been recognised, but, on the other hand, 

 certain geographical races previously given the status of 

 species have been relegated to that of sub-species. Possibly, 

 even probably, there may be adverse comment on the 

 recognition of sub-species or geographical races and the 

 consequent application of trinominalism. But we cannot get 

 over the fact that geographical races do exist, and to refuse to 

 recognise them or to give them names to denote that we do 

 so, will certainly not help forward the science of Ornithology. 

 Nor does its acceptance add to the difficulty of the field 

 naturalist and sportsman, for these are quite as anxious as 

 the cabinet naturalist to account for the variations they find 

 in the same species in different areas. 



