164 INDIAN DUCKS 



generally clear off as soon as they can tiy. They have been known 

 to breed in confinement : those in the Calcutta Zoological Gardens 

 did so in 18.S5. They will also interbreed with the domestic duck ; 

 and there is a specimen in the British Museum collection of a hybrid 

 between A. pacilorJnjncha and A. 2JlatijrhijiicJia. 



The birds are very good parents ; the duck sits close and both 

 she and the drake show the greatest consternation when their nests 

 are discovered. Sometimes the disturber of their peace is tempted 

 away from the vicinity of the nest by the duck pretending to be 

 wounded, and fluttering about a short distance ahead, leading him 

 to believe ca])ture to be an easy matter until the capture is really 

 attempted. Sometimes the birds wheel round and round in the air 

 just above the nest and refuse to leave, even after its contents have 

 been rifled. 



They also show great aft'ection to one another, and if one of a 

 pair is killed, the remaining one has been known to refuse to leave 

 the spot until he — or she — as the case may be — also falls a victim to 

 its constancy. 



General Habits. — Like all our local ducks, though not strictly 

 migratory in the true sense of the word, yet they wander about a 

 good deal under the influence of the seasons and want or otherwise 

 of water. Thus, iu the dryer portions of their habitat they are rain\- 

 weather visitants, appearing only when the jheels and ponds contain 

 sulflcient water to satisfy their wants. In certain parts also, quite 

 independently of the water-supply, this duck is much more common 

 than in others ; thus, all round the Twenty-four Parganas, Nadia, 

 Khulna, Jessore and the Sunderbands generally it is decidedly rare, 

 but gets more common as one works further north or west. It is 

 even more rare in the extreme north and north-east, but common all 

 over Central India, getting more rare again towards the south. In 

 Ceylon itself it does not seem at all rare, for though Legge never 

 met with it, he writes of others having done so not infrequently. 

 He seems, however, to believe it to be only a winter visitant, but it 

 will very likely eventually be found to be resident. 



In Manipur it is very common. Major Woods says (//( epistold) : — 



" This (the Spotted-Billed Duck) is a very common (hick in 

 Manipur, though in the rains and in the nesting season, owing to the 

 dense grassy jheels to wliich it resorts, it is seldom seen," 



