DAFILA ACUTA 2-2H 



Getting off the water the_v are less quick than some ducks, " skit- 

 tering" along the surface for a few feet; they rise less abruptly 

 also, but once on the wing they show to the greatest advantage ; 

 their flight is exceedingly swift, probably faster than that of any 

 other duck, and is very easily recognizable. They fly in very 

 regular formation, changing position less than do most ducks, and 

 when close to the hearer the sound of their flight is quite un- 

 mistakeable. Less noisy and whirring than that of most of their 

 near relations, their flight has a soft swish-swish about it of a very 

 distinctive character. Hume says, speaking of their flight, that it 

 is a low "soft hissing swish," and this describes it exactly. Their 

 voice is like that of the mallard, a distinct quack, but it is far 

 softer and also less loud than that of the mallard, gadwall, or spot- 

 bill : they are, however, silent birds, and one seldom hears them 

 emit any other sound beyond the low colloquial chuckle they 

 sometimes indulge in when resting. I have not heard them calling 

 when on the wing, except when about to settle, or just after rising, 

 or when suddenly frightened. Seebohm says that the voice closely 

 resembles that of the mallard, and adds "its call-note is a low 

 /.■(7/,- " : and Naumann says that in the pairing season the male 

 may be seen swimming round the female, uttering a deep click 

 which, if the observer be fortunately near enough to hear it, is 

 preceded by a sound like the drawing in of the breath, and followed 

 by a low grating note. 



On the land they walk easily but slowly, as might be expected 

 from their configuration, nor will they often be found resorting to 

 it, though Hume records having seen them on the land. 



In the autumn the male bird assumes a plumage similar to that 

 of the female, but can, of course, always be distinguished at a glance 

 by the presence of the speculum, which is wanting in the female. 

 Hume says that he has never obtained any birds in this stage of 

 plumage in India, but in my own very small series I have two, and 

 I have seen several others. Yarrell. speaking of this change of 

 plumage, says that it commences in July, and is effected partly by 

 change of plumage, and partly by actual change of colouration in the 

 feathers. As regards the reassumption of the male plumage he 

 says :— 



