292 GAME-BIRDS OP INDIA 



broader and more rounded. The pintails are very conspicuous, 

 the body is shorter, or apparently so, and much deeper ; not nearly 

 so thickly feathered as senegallus. 



" For eating purposes I far prefer senegallus, but its skin should 

 be removed, as it is as tough as leather. 



" While I vras in a camp on the river at the end of November, I 

 used to notice big packs on the move as early as 7'0 in the morning, 

 and wondered what was the attraction there to bring them out at 

 such an hour, which is unusual. They may have been worried birds 

 changing their habits to suit the occasion, for during the last three 

 weeks of November, troops and guns were almost daily firing into 

 their night and watering haunts for three or four hours after dawn, 

 and so scattered the birds far and wide. 



" In October, 1916, the Divisional Commander in whose area 

 these myriads of birds fed and watered, instituted two close days in 

 the week when no shooting at all was allowed, the main reasons 

 being that cartridges were scarce and so a great deal of ' pot ' 

 shooting was indulged in, and also that the daily and incessant firing 

 might scare away the birds for good and all, as they could always 

 water at the river. 



"In addition to this, a strip of ground above the river bank 

 (Tigris) was turned into a sanctuary, where shooting was never 

 allowed." 



Specimens of the plant on which these birds principally feed were 

 sent to me by Captain Pitman, and very kindly identified for me by 

 Mr. W. G. Craik of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinbm-gh, as 

 Polygonum argyrocoleum ; he also succeeded in growing plants from 

 the seed sent. 



