82 INDIAN' DUCKS 



Again, in another place, he adds, when enumerating the places 

 where it is to be found, " excluding, perhaps the Sunderbuns, Jessore, 

 and one or two other of the deltaic districts." Of these places, 

 several have now to be erased from the list of localities not inhabited 

 by this bird. In the Punjab, as far as I can ascertain, it is un- 

 doubtedly a rare visitor ; still it is found there, and is not so rare as 

 Hume deemed it to be. Of its occurrence in the Trans-Sutlej, the 

 following notes occur in ' Stray Feathers' (vol. x, No. .5, p. 430) : — 



" Although it (the Comb-Duck) certainlj' is nowhere common in 

 this region, I know of its having been shot on more than one occasion 

 in the Lahoi'e District, and, again, further south in the Baree Doab, 

 but only in the rainy season, and always in the immediate vicinity 

 of the canals. 



" I heard of a nest Iseing taken as far south as the Chauga Manga 

 Plantation, but I am not sure of the fact. I have never heard or seen 

 the bird AVest of Baree, but throughout the canal-irrigated portion 

 of the Baree Doab, the whole tract Ijetween the Beas and the Sutlej, 

 and the Baree, it certainly does occur, though very sparingly, during 

 the rainy season." 



After this note, which is by G. Trevor, Hume goes on to quote 

 the ' Asian ' on the subject to the following effect : — 



" I am happy to state that it not only occurs, but that it breeds 

 in the Punjaub, Trans-Sutlej. A friend of mine, an engineer on the 

 Baree Doab Canal, sent me a female Sarcidiornis for identification 

 from Bhamlie, in the Lahore District. On opening the bird I found 

 a perfectly formed egg ready to lie laid, and from other investigation 

 it seemed clear (hat there was a nest in the vicinity. During the 

 rains the neighbourhood of Bhamlie in one direction is fairly under 

 water, and Canna brakes are very common, with patches of water 

 between, and dotted here and there with large trees, just the place 

 for the Nukhta. It was at one such place that my friend saw the 

 pair often, and on the day he shot the female, had fired one or two 

 shots unsuccessfully at her or the male ; but was rather surprised at 

 the way in which both returned, wheeling round and round without 

 going away any distance. As soon as the female was shot, the male 

 went further off, and did not afford another shot : but the whole 

 circumstances go far to prove that there must have been a nest at 

 hand." 



It has also been recorded from Sind by Webb, McCulloch and 

 Gibson, the two former obtaining specimens, as also did another 

 gentleman shooting with Mr. Webb. 



