18G INDIAN DUCKS 



It was seldom on such days that tlie tliree guns who wero 

 generally out, could not get theii;. fifty couple of game-birds, by 

 which I mean that whistlers, cotton-teal, and even snipe did not 

 count towards the bag. As a rule, the comparative number of snipe 

 would be small, as they were not shot at except at the commence- 

 ment and end of the day's shooting; and we always considered the 

 bag good or otherwise according to the number of Gadwall, pintail, 

 and other big duck contained in it. 



I have no record now of what we got, but certainly we often got 

 fifteen couple of Gadwall, and sometimes over thirty, whilst on one 

 occasion, I think, the three of us got over forty couples. 



The Gadwall did not seem to mind much what sort of water they 

 were in; early in the mornings and late in the evenings they were to 

 be found in the rice-fields — generally, as I have already said, in 

 some corner where the cover was denser than elsewhei-e : an hour 

 after light they left the rice-fields and were found swimming about 

 in semi-open pieces of water, but seldom in the large open expanses 

 in the centre of the lake. It was very noticeable that in the rice- 

 fields the birds were constantly seen either singly or in pairs, yet as 

 soon as they left these they were very seldom found in pairs, and 

 practically never alone, but in flocks numbering ten to twenty, some- 

 times as many as forty. 



They seem to put on fat quicker than any other duck, or perhaps 

 they feel the exertion of migration less. Of course the mallard, 

 which migrates often from parts very close to us, arrives fat ; but 

 I have noticed that early in the season, when other ducks are very 

 poor, the Gadwall is usually in quite a plunip condition. 



