228 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



but on the whole it is a silent bird. This 

 may be accounted for by its extreme 

 wariness; it takes such great care to 

 avoid danger, that its alarm-note of quaak 

 is not often required. Its call-note is 

 a low kah ; and Naumann says that, in 

 the pairing-season, the male may be seen 

 swimming round the female uttering a 

 deep diik, which, if the observer be 

 fortunate enough to be sufficiently near 

 to hear it, is preceded by a sound like 

 the drawing in of the breath, and followed 

 by a low grating note." 



Writing of his experiences in Siberia 

 he goes on to say : — " Early the next 

 morning the sight that presented itself 

 to our view was a most interesting one. 

 As far as we could see, the strip of open 

 water on each side of the ice in the 

 Zylma was black with Ducks, and over- 

 head Ducks were flying about in every 

 direction like a swarm of bees. To 

 estimate the number at half a million 

 would probably be to guess under the 

 mark. They were almost all of them 

 Pin-tails, but many Teal and Wigeon were 

 among them. In spite of their enormous 

 numbers they were wild enough. We 

 had no difficulty in watching them through 

 our glasses so as to identify the species ; 



