The Irue Ducks. 239 



liminary courtship completed, the pairs 

 reassemble in flocks which remain together 

 until they reach their nesting haunts. 



"The Gad wall ranks very high up in 

 the table of duck precedence. There are 

 so many good points about it which attract 

 favourable notice. As an article of diet 

 few ducks are better. Some people would 

 give the prize in this respect to the Mallard, 

 others perhaps to the Pintail, but take the 

 Gadwall all round it is hard to beat on 

 the table. Personally I have never known 

 the duck to have a fishy or other un- 

 pleasant flavour, nor have I met any 

 Bengal sportsman who has charged it 

 with this crime. But the northern presi- 

 dencies have held men who have com- 

 plained of this flavour when they first 

 arrive. They ought to be all right, as 

 they are almost entirely vegetable feeders, 

 subsisting much on wild and cultivated 

 rice, water-weeds, etc., and seldom vary- 

 ing the diet with animal food. A drake 

 shot in Silchar was found to contain a 

 mass of small white worms in addition to 

 some water berries and half ripe rice, but 

 this in no way affected the flesh. 



" Before cooking, however, he has to 

 be shot, and though not as a rule a very 

 ^hy bird, yet he is quite wide awake 



