2 26 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



This curious habit is corroborated by 

 Mr. G. T. Booth in his " Rough Notes/' 

 He writes : — " I never noticed large mixed 

 bodies of males and females, seldom more 

 than ten or a dozen being in company 

 when both sexes were represented, though 

 thirty, forty, or even fifty drakes were 

 often met with by themselves." 



Mr. Hume further observes : — " The 

 Pin-tail, when undisturbed, is a silent 

 bird by day, and rarely utters any sound, 

 even when feeding, though I have, when 

 lying up pretty close to them, heard a 

 little low chatteration going on, more 

 like the low clucking of hens than any- 

 thing else. But when alarmed by day, 

 and pretty constantly by night, they 

 utter their peculiar soft quack, — such a 

 note as one might expect a Mallard, not 

 quite sure whether he meant to speak or 

 not, to emit — quite different from the 

 sharp quack of the Gadwall, softer and 

 less strident than that of the Mallard, 

 but still not at all feeble, on the contrary 

 audible at a great distance." 



Montagu describes the notes of the Pin- 

 tail as being " extremely soft and inward ; 

 the courting note is always attended with 

 a jerk of the head; the other greatly 

 resembles that of a very young kitten. 



