ANAS PCECILORHYNCHA PCECILORHYNCHA 165 



Hume seems to think that it never ascends the hills to any 

 height ; but it is found in Manipur up to 3,000 feet. Major Woods 

 records it from the Tankul Hills at heights over 3,000 feet. I have 

 seen it in the Cachar Hills in valleys up to about the same height ; 

 and it has been recorded from the Darjeeling Terai up to about 

 4,000 feet, and again by Major Oliver from Kashmir. 



The Spotted-Billed Duck is not a sociable bird, either with its 

 own kind or with other species of duck ; often it is found singly or 

 in pairs, and the flocks seldom number much over a dozen, though 

 in rare instances they run up to as many as forty, and Major 

 Mclnroy frequently observed flocks of at least 100, and these he had 

 seen both on the wing and at rest. 



If they ever have to associate with other ducks, Hume says that 

 they give the preference to teal or shovellers ; and Woods writes 

 to me : — 



" I have often seen an old solitary Spot-Bill piloting a flock of 

 Teal across a jheel and jungle." 



In such cases the Spot-Bill may have had the company of teal 

 thrust upon him whether he desired it or not. 



Their haunts seem to vary very much ; probably they prefer 

 tanks, jheels, and small pieces of water which are well covered with 

 weeds, and they seldom resort to large open pieces of water. Thus, 

 in Manipur, I am told that the Spot-Bills do not, as a rule, frequent 

 any of the larger, clearer sheets of water, and that on the Lagtak 

 Lake they are quite rare ducks when compared with the others which 

 are found upon it. They inhabit the smaller jheels, which are sur- 

 rounded near the margins by jungle, and here they may be seen all 

 asleep during the heat of the day, except one or two which are on 

 sentry-duty near the edge. In the district of Mymensingh, however, 

 they are found in the vast jheels which stretch for miles in every 

 direction, and here also they breed in great numbers. 



They are also found, though I think but rarely, ou small (juickly- 

 flowing streams in forests. On the other hand, on some of the 

 bigger rivers they are not uncommon. Hume has " shot them 

 several times both on the Ganges and .Jumna (ou both of which, 

 however, they are rare), while on the Jhelum, Chenab, and Indus 



