228 INDIAN DUCKS 



Manaar during' the cool season from November to March. Layard 

 speaks of its occurring in 'vast Hocks' at the head of the Jaffna 

 estuary , but I do not think it is so common nowadays." 



It extends throughout Burma, but is alleged to be absent in 

 certain portions. Hume says that it is not found in Tenasserim, 

 but it has now been frequently recorded thence. It is common in 

 parts between the Sittang and Salween, and extends west of the 

 former river. Gates records that it is found throughout the Shan 

 States, at least as far as Kentung, where Lieutenant J. H. Whitehead 

 has shot it. It occurs in Kashmir, and has been recorded from that 

 State on various occasions. 



Nidification. — As regards the breeding of the Garganey within 

 Indian limits, there is practically no evidence of any value. 



Colonel Irby told Hume that when in Oudh he caught some 

 young half-fledged in tbe month of September. This shows, of 

 course, that once upon a time a pair of these teal did remain in India 

 and bred, but it does not at all show that they ever stay of their own 

 accord to breed. This unfortunate pair had very likely been slightly 

 damaged by shot or accident, and so were unable to take the exertion 

 of migration ; and this, doubtless, is the reason for the many birds 

 staying in India, and being seen in various months, when they 

 should have been far away, and breeding in other climates and 

 countries. They have been seen in practically every month in the 

 year, and such records are many ; but, as I have said of other 

 birds elsewhere, every year millions are killed, and it would be strange 

 indeed if a few did not get injuries from which they recovered, yet 

 not sufficiently soon to allow of their migrating. 



Colonel Tickell wrote from Moulmein mentioning a young bird 

 just fledged which had been caught on a small pond in the vicinity. 

 This may have been a young bird, backward and rather weak, and 

 consequently so exhausted with its long journey as to be caught and 

 produced as a specimen locally bred, or it may have been one bred 

 under the circumstances already suggested. 



Blyth wrote, in reference to this statement of Tickell's : " The 

 Garganey breeds sparingly, no doubt, in India, as well as in Burma 

 and Tenasserim " ; but from what this deduction was made I cannot 

 tell, nor can I find any perfectly authentic records of the Garganey 



