DAFILA ACUTA 221 



common of Indian ducks, occurring sometimes in huge flocks, but 

 more often in such as numl)er fort}' to sixty individuals. It is but 

 rarely that very small flocks are seen, and solitary birds or pairs hardly 

 ever. Where they are least common, flocks of only twenty or so may 

 be met with frequently, but this is about the minimum number. As 

 regards the maximum number, it is hard to give figures, but Hume 

 speaks of thousands in a flock, other writers of many hundreds in 

 a flock. I have, myself, both in Bengal and Assam, seen flocks which 

 must have contained from 300 to 500 birds, although such are not of 

 common occurrence. G. Keid, in his ' Birds of the Lucknow Civil 

 Division ' (' Stray Feathers '), speaks of them being "generally met 

 within immense numbers," but he does not define what he means by 

 " immense." 



In India the Pintail seldom arrives before the middle or even 

 end of October, and in Eastern India we did not expect them in any 

 numbers until the end of November. Magrath records shooting 

 them on one occasion as early as the 21st September in Kashmir. 



Most sportsmen would place the Pintail before all other ducks. 

 As a rule they are extremely shy, wary birds, and are very hard 

 to approach within gunshot, though one or two people have found 

 them to be quite the contrary ! Capt. Baldwin says that he found 

 them easy to approach even when feeding on open pieces of water. 

 This is somewhat confirmed by the fact that in Cachar the natives 

 tell me that they can get at Pintails far more easily than at other 

 ducks, and it is true they do bring in more Pintails in proportion than 

 they do gadwalls, teal, &c. ; at the same time I have personally found 

 them to be the hardest to get at of all the ducks ; and such of my 

 friends as have given me their experiences have found the same. 



In the daytime they fre(|uent large lakes and jheels and rest in 

 the centre of wide, comparatively open pieces of water, shunning such 

 as have thick cover of reeds or similar heavy jungle, and re-sorting 

 always to those which have the surface covered with lilies and the 

 smaller water-plants, amongst which they can lie well-concealed, yet 

 able to discern at once the approach of anything to their vicinity. 

 During the night — they do not leave their quarters until very late — 

 they visit the smaller jheels and tanks, the rushy banks of the 

 nullahs and canals, and similar places, where they feed, but the 



