41 6 Ma'cualofthe Game Birds of India. 



get w'thin shot without difficulty in a 

 punt, ■ md even by a Httle management in 

 a common native boat, and you can 

 always get a shot by sailing past them at 

 about forty yards distance. 



"They swim and dive splendidly, and 

 if only a single boat is after them, they 

 will constantly stick to the water even 

 after being fired at, rising perhaps at the 

 moment, but dropping within fifty yards, 

 and instantly diving to reappear from fifty 

 to a hundred yards beyond the place at 

 which they vanished. They come up 

 scattered, but all swim converging on one 

 point, and in a few minutes are swimming 

 away in a close lump, just as before you 

 fired. But if two or three boats hem 

 them in, they generally rise, and, if the 

 place is small, disappear— if large, circle 

 round and light again a couple of miles 

 off. They spring out of the water with 

 ease, and fly with great rapidity, quite as 

 quickly and easily as the Common Teal, 

 but almost silently, and with less of a 

 perceptible wing-rustle than any species 

 I know. This is probably due to their 

 very narrow, pointed, somewhat curved 

 wings, by which they can be instandy 

 recognised when flying. They are very 

 active, restless birds, almost always busy 



