380 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



short rapid flight pitched again, generally 

 about the same place. They swam very 

 fast, keeping their stiff woodpecker-like 

 tails erect at right angles with the body, 

 and when wounded, though they dived con- 

 stantly, showed no disposition to escape, 

 like other Ducks, by hiding among the 

 reeds, but, on the contrary, avoided them. 

 The bill of the male, when newly killed, 

 is of a beautiful pure ultramarine, this 

 colour extending even to the interior of 

 the mouth. It soon fades, being merely 

 connected with a thin, easily moved mem- 

 brane ; and in twenty-four hours the bill 

 loses its brilliant appearance, turning to a 

 brownish grey." 



Mr. F. Finn tells us that a captive 

 specimen in Calcutta floated low in the 

 water, but not submerged, and the tail 

 was kept more or less raised above the 

 level of the back. 



The authors I have quoted regard- 

 ing the habits of this Duck, seem agreed 

 that this bird, when swimming, holds 

 its tail more or less erect, but we find 

 Mr. Abel Chapman telling us that the 

 tail of this Duck is carried under water 

 as a rudder. He and Mr. W. J. Buck 

 in their charming book, " Wild Spain," 

 say :— 



