304 INDIAN DUCKS 



" Since this was written, Mr. Lean, of the 5th Bengal Cavalrj', 

 informs me that he has just shot a duck of this species in the I'hili- 

 bheet district." 



Again, in the same vokime of ' Stray Feathers,' appears a note by 

 Mr. Chill, dated 8th February, 1883: — 



" On the '27tli Decembev last, I sent you in a tin box an Ensiiui- 

 I Ida Icucocephala. Since that I have managed to purchase two more 

 of that species — one a cat took away, and the other I have got stuffed." 



These were apparently got near Faruknagar, near Delhi. 



About this time (February, 1883) Mr. Bomford also got a 

 specimen on the Indus, at Multan, Keengurh. 



From this time none are recorded until Lieut. Burke shot one at 

 Halkote in February, 1891. 



The next recorded specimen was not met with until almost 

 exactly two years later, when, in the 'Proceedings of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal,' occurs the following note by Mr. Finn : — 



" [Ertsnuituru k'licnccpliahi). Tlie present individual was sent to 

 the editor of the Asian newspaper by Capt. H. E. Davis, who stated 

 {Asian, Feb. 11th, 1896) that it was shot by Capt. E. D. White, 

 5'2ncl Light Infantry, at Bettiali, near Hardoi, between Lucknow and 

 Bareilly. It is in heavy moult and quite iucapalile of flight, which, 

 considering the time of its occurrence, is rather surprising, and almost 

 looks as if tlie species might be somewhere resident within our limits." 



Yet again, in 1896, but on December '27, Major J. C. P. Onslow, 

 R.E., shot two, and Mr. H. B. Campbell one of these ducks, in the 

 Ganges Kadur, about twenty miles south of Kadur. 



The Stiff-tail is mentioned in the list of birds in Mr. W. K. 

 Lawrence's recently published work on the ' Valley of Kashmir ' 

 as having occurred in that country. 



Colonel Unwin reports this little duck as having been obtained 

 several times in March 1907 in Kashmir, but gives no details of what 

 specimens were secured ; and prior to this, in the ' Asian ' of the 

 8th February, 1898, A. E. W. recorded having shot three Stiff-tail 

 Ducks in that State in amongst a vast number of other birds shot at 

 the same time. Captain Macnab records shooting a female of this 

 species at Mardan, Peshawar, in November, 1899. Mr. Kennard 

 also shot one in Srinagar in 1906. 



