250 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



on the flight and voice of this species : — 

 "The flight of the Shoveller is not 

 quite so rapid as that of some other 

 Ducks, but the pinions are moved rapidly 

 and very audibly even at some distance. 

 It is not otherwise a very noisy bird. 

 The duck quacks not unlike the domestic 

 species ; the voice of the drake is a little 

 deeper ; if we represent the former as 

 quaak^ the latter might be represented 

 as qiiauk. On the wmg the note is a 

 guttural puck puck.^^ 



Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey has the follow- 

 ing interesting note in his "Fowler in 

 Ireland " :— 



" They swim in bunches of from seven 

 or eight to fifteen — that being the number 

 I have usually seen together, seldom more 

 — and are very easy to approach. In 

 calm water they may be noticed paddling 

 lazily forward as though asleep, their 

 heavy-looking bills rippHng along the sur- 

 face as if in the act of drinking. Perhaps 

 when at rest the head is overbalanced by 

 the unusual weight attached, and it may 

 be an exertion for the bird to keep its bill 

 in a constantly horizontal position. They 

 fly well; not so boldly perhaps as other 

 ducks, but not so low as the divers. I have 

 more than once seen these birds suck up 



