238 Manual of the Game Birds of India, 



in undisturbed localities keep up a per- 

 petual chatteration, not unlike that in 

 which the Mallard occasionally indulges, 

 but shriller, feebler, and far more incessant. 



" On land it walks extremely well, far 

 more gracefully than do the Mallard or 

 Grey Duck, and may often be seen trotting 

 about on tiny smooth grass patches at 

 the margins of broads, busily devouring 

 grasshoppers, crickets, and (strange though 

 it may seem, it is the fact) small moths 

 and butterflies. 



"When wounded and pursued, they 

 dive easily, but are much more easily 

 tired out and captured than the Grey 

 Duck, or a fortiori any of the Pochards." 



Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker remarks regard- 

 ing this Duck : — 



** Surgeon-Captain Woods says that even 

 in Manipur they leave about the end of 

 March. 



" An interesting fact noted by this close 

 observer is that many, perhaps the majority, 

 of these ducks pair off before leaving their 

 winter quarters. He says most of them 

 pair off in March, but that he has noticed 

 some pairing as early as February. No 

 one seems to have noticed these birds 

 arriving at their breeding-grounds in pairs, 

 so it is to be presumed that, their pre- 



