4i8 Alamtal of the Game Birds of India. 



from his bill. With distended throat and 

 widely-opened mandibles, he swam round 

 and round in circles, stretching forward 

 his neck, and repeatedly dipping his bill 

 below the surface for the distance of two 

 or three yards ; from time to time he 

 lifted his head in the air with a resolut- 

 shake. After these antics had been con- 

 tinued for some five or six minutes, the 

 bird seemed to have satisfactorily disposed 

 of his troublesome capture, and rising 

 half out of the water commenced flapping 

 his wings in the most vigorous manner. 

 This was a chance not to be lost, and a 

 charge from the punt-gun at about sixty 

 yards laid this diminutive wanderer from 

 the north dead as a stone on the water. 

 On examination the stomach was found 

 to contain one fresh roach of such 

 dimensions that, when the small gullet 

 of the bird was considered, it appeared 

 a mystery how the little glutton succeeded 

 in getting it down. There were also the 

 bones of another fish of the same species, 

 several minute shells and stones, and 

 some fibrous grassy roots ; the latter were 

 probably portions of the weed torn up 

 from the bottom when the shells were 

 swallowed." 



The nest of the Smew has been found 



