312 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



" They swim very rapidly and gracefully ; 

 as a rule, rather deep in the water, but at 

 times, especially when a lot are at play 

 together, for a minute or two quite high, 

 as if barely resting on the water. They 

 are very playful, and skirmish about to- 

 gether, chasing each other, scuttling along 

 on the surface one moment, out of sight 

 the next. They are grand divers ; like 

 all the Pochards they have the hind-toe 

 more webbed (though this is slightly less 

 marked in this species and the White-eye 

 than in the Scaup, etc.) than the True 

 Ducks and Teal have, and it is doubtless 

 partly this which makes them such good 

 divers. 



" Of course, with their diving powers, 

 wounded birds give a grand chase ; but 

 they are not quite such adepts at dis- 

 appearing altogether as the White-eye ; 

 and, as they are more generally shot in 

 open water, it is less common to lose 

 them. 



" Their note, rarely heard until they 

 are disturbed, is very like that of the 

 White-eye, but louder and harsher — a kurr., 

 kiirr; but their wing rustle is far more 

 characteristic, and I have rarely failed to 

 recognise them by it, when I have shot 

 them at night, before they came to hand." 



