362 Mamial of the Game Birds of India. 



in the same way under cover of any over- 

 hanging grass or unevenness of the bank ; 

 and so quietly do they rise for the purpose, 

 putting their bills above water, that even 

 in a still quiet pond hardly any circles are 

 made on the water by this operation to 

 attract attention. In the open sea, perhaps, 

 it is more difficult for them to escape in 

 this way, especially on a calm day ; but 

 still I am sure they do so occasionally, 

 making use of any little bit of floating 

 sea-weed to conceal themselves, or even 

 without any such help, if they make a 

 good long dive, they may still escape, so 

 small an object as the bill of a bird being 

 difficult to distinguish at any considerable 

 distance, especially if the bird happens to 

 get just in the glare of the sun upon the 

 water : of course in rough weather the 

 difficulty in seeing the bill of the bird is 

 considerably increased. In no other way 

 can I account for their sudden disappear- 

 ance ; just when I have almost been in 

 the act of putting out my hand to take 

 a wounded bird into the boat there is 

 a splash and a dive, and sometimes the 

 bird is never seen again : it certainly does 

 not die under water, or it would rise to 

 the surface and be easily seen." 



Mr. John Cordeaux observes in his 



