TADORNA TADOBNA 137 



General Habits. — This extremely handsome and conspicuous bird 

 although, one would think, so little likely to be overlooked, and having 

 a wide possible range through Northern India, is yet but seldom met 

 with, and is never, or hardly ever, seen for any length of time in one 

 locality. This, as Hume explains, is probably due to the fact that 

 its natural habitat is not fresh water, but the sea-shore, and the 

 sea-shore where it is clean. Most of our shore is not clean, and 

 very little of it is visited and well-known, so that even the few birds 

 which do haunt it may well escape observation. The rest which make 

 up their minds on India for a winter habitat are compelled to resort 

 to the largest pieces of water they can find which have suitable 

 sandy shores and churs on which they may walk about. They are 

 essentially land and not water ducks, and may be found nine times 

 out of ten strutting about or resting quietly on some sandy bank or 

 shore. When disturbed they do not take to the water and thence 

 to wing, but at once rise into the air, uttering their loud call as they 

 first take the alarm, and once in flight they soon put a long distance 

 between themselves and the cause of their disturbance. They are 

 strong both on the leg and the wing ; on the former their actions 

 are decidedly more goose- than duck-like, and they walk well, quickly, 

 and in a very erect attitude. When flying, on the other hand, they 

 approach more nearly the ducks, making less commotion with their 

 wings than do the geese. Their note has been variously described, 

 and is a very similar cry to that of the brahminy duck in the 

 breeding season, but more shrill and high-pitched at other times. 

 Hume calls it a harsh quack, which, he says, might perhaps be called 

 a whistle. 



They dive well and swim well, but are loath to take to either 

 expedient, and it is only when severely wounded that they resort 

 to it. As they feed principally in shallow water, their diving is 

 not called into action, though they often retain their heads under 

 water for long periods. 



Hume on two occasions noticed birds " washing and sluicing 

 themselves with an energy and persistence that I have rarely 

 seen equalled in any other species." He then, also, noticed that 

 the birds remained with their heads under water quite as long at a 

 stretch as any of the true diving-ducks would have done. 



