88 INDIAN DUCKS 



Usually the first flight to the steppe took place at dawn, before 

 sunrise ; at eight in the morning they -would return to the Muis 

 estuary, whence at eleven to twelve they again flew to the steppe 

 for an hour or two, and about two or three in the afternoon re- 

 turned to drink and by four o'clock were again on the pasture, 

 where they remained till almost complete darkness. This was the 

 mode of life of the birds if unmolested ; but the flocks, when 

 alarmed, often changed this disposition of their time, and the 

 regularity of their visits to the field were broken. Some authors 

 consider the White-fronted Goose less wary than other geese, while 

 others deny this. Personally, I, after pursuing them with great 

 perseverance, have become convinced that their caution nowise 

 falls short of other geese." 



Like all other geese these, at the end of July, moult all their 

 wing quills, and are then flightless, and the Samoyeds take advan- 

 tage of their comparative helplessness and net them in large 

 numbers, and store them for food during the winter months. 



Goslings of the White-fronted Goose are, like all others, expert 

 divers, but adults will not dive unless very hard-driven and then 

 without much skill or endurance. 



