ANAS PCECILORHYNCHA PCECILORHYNCHA 167 



These ducks are not shy birds, and until they have Ijeen much 

 shot at can generally be fairly easily approached near enough for 

 a shot. 



They are principally vegetable feeders, and do a good deal of 

 damage to rice, both when young and when in the ear, trampling 

 down a great deal more than they eat ; they also, at times, eat all 

 sorts of miscellaneous food, such as water-mollusca, frogs, worms, 

 insects, etc. Woods observes that the places where they feed can 

 generally be detected at a glance from the state of the much-trampled 

 blades of rice and the numerous feathers lying about. He says that 

 he has had good sport by concealing himself in such places on bright 

 moonlight nights, and shooting the birds as they fly over. He has 

 also been successful in getting capital sport with them over a decoy. 

 The Musalman ^Nlanipuris catch numbers of the flappers with spears 

 and nets ; and they sometimes form part of the bag when the natives 

 in other parts of India have a duck-drive into nets. 



In Southern India (Mysore ?) Mr. Theobald says that the shikaris 

 get within easy shot of these ducks by making bundles of rushes and 

 weeds, and pushing these along the surface of the water in front 

 of them, the bundles affording a floating rest for their guns and also 

 concealing the approach of the shooter. 



