66 WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 
The Small Whistler is a common species almost 
throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma; it is found also 
in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,and from the Malay 
Peninsula to Java. In the Himalayas and Panjab, 
however, it is not found,or only rarely, and is, of course, 
absent from desert tracts. It is resident, but moves 
about considerably at different seasons. It frequents 
wooded localities, perching much on trees, and prefers 
weedy ponds and marshes to open water. It generally 
builds on trees, either making a stick nest for itself, or 
appropriating the deserted home of some other bird; but 
it may build in herbage by the water. In most parts of 
India the breeding season is July and August, but in 
Ceylon may be as early as February. About a dozen 
white eggs are laid, and the young, if the nest is high up, 
are carried down in the feet of the parents. The flesh is 
said to be poor, but makes good soup. This Duck 
should not be allowed always to go unscathed by people 
who despise it as game, for natives are glad to eat it, 
and it is so quarrelsome with other Ducks that I have 
no doubt it tends to drive away more valuable species. 
The Large Whistler. 
Dendrocycga fulva, BLANFORD, Faun. Brit. Ind., 
Birds, Vol. FV, p. 432. 
VERNACULAR NAMES :—Burra Silli, H. 
Thisisa considerably bigger bird than the last, and of 
very ungainly appearance, owing to its large coarse head 
and bill and very big feet ; the general body colour is 
chestnut throughout, not on the belly only; the upper 
surface is black with chestnut bars, the wings black, with 
a dark maroon patch, and a cream-coloured patch re- 
places the maroon at the root of the tail. There is a bold 
black streak down the back of the neck, a whitish shade 
round the middle of it, and some white dashes on the 
flanks, in this species. 
