236 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



Hume thus describes the habits of the 

 Gadwall : — " They are, I think, essentially 

 fresh-water birds (I have never seen them 

 really on the sea-coast), but having secured 

 fresh water, they do not seem to have 

 much preference as to locality, and you 

 find them equally in the largest rivers and 

 the smallest hill-streams, in huge lakes 

 and small ponds, in open water (as at the 

 Sambhur lake) where not a reed or rush 

 is to be seen, and in tangled swamps, 

 where there is barely clear water enough 

 to float a walnut. 



" In rivers and in small pieces of water, 

 the Gadwall commonly occurs in small 

 parties of from three to a dozen, but in 

 large lakes I have seen them in flocks of 

 several hundreds. 



"On rivers they are generally to be 

 seen snoozing on the bank during the 

 day, and then they commonly leave these 

 towards sunset for feeding-grounds inland. 

 In broads they keep, if at all disturbed, 

 well out of gunshot towards the centre, 

 sometimes in clear water, more often 

 skulking in low water-weeds ; but in un- 

 frequented places they may, even during 

 the day-time, be found walking on the 

 shore or paddling in the shallows round 

 the edges of the tank, feeding busily with 



