OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 347 



feeds on carrion in India, and consorts with Vultures ; the evidence is certainly 

 very conclusive. The usual note is a rather loud and monotonous hark ; but the 

 alarm note is described by Pallas as resembling the syllables a-oung, rendered by 

 the Turks as au-gout. According to Jerdon there is a superstition in India among 

 the natives that " the souls of erring lovers, who have loved not wisely but too 

 well, pass into the forms of these Ducks, condemned thenceforth to pass the 

 night, the season of their transgressions, apart, on opposite banks of some stream, 

 each ever praying the other for permission to rejoin them, and each ever com- 

 pelled sternly to refuse. ' Chakwa, shall I come? ' ' No, Chakwi ! ' ' Chakwi, 

 shall I come?' 'No, Chakwa !' ' "This story," Hume continues, "however, I 

 fear belongs to a more poetical age than the present, and I myself have never 

 met with a native in Upper India who knew of it except from Europeans. 

 Perhaps, too, the world is more virtuous, or celestial vigilance less keen, for 

 certain it is that in these degenerate days, except in the case of very narrow 

 rivers like the Hindon in Meerut, alike by day and night, Chakwa and Chakwi 

 are to be found both on the same side of the water." In India the Euddy 

 Sheldrake, or Brahminy Duck, as it is otherwise called, is nowhere held in 

 reverence ; but in Burmah it is the sacred and national bird of the natives ; the 

 Llamas of Mongolia also regard it as an object of religious respect. The Kuddy 

 Sheldrake is a remarkably wary bird, rarely allowing any one to approach it 

 within gunshot, and, owing to its restless, noisy habits, it is much disliked by the 

 sportsman. Hume writes: "Not only do they carefully provide for their own 

 safety, but they seem positively to take a malicious pleasure in spoiling all sport. 

 You are working down on a lump of fowl a few minutes more and you will be 

 within range. Suddenly the loud call of the Brahminy sounds, and rising out of 

 a hollow in the sand where they have been squatting, you see a pair waddling to 

 the water's edge. Again and again the pair call and answer (side by side as they 

 are, one would think that save out of sheer spite they need not shout at each other 

 thus), then with a rapid chuckle off they go, their wings clattering as they rise 

 like a train on an iron culvert, and with them of course go all the Fowl. Further 

 on are a lot of Geese ; you work towards them ; vain hope ! The ruddy wide- 

 awakes have alighted near these now, and duly put them up before you are 

 within a hundred yards, and sometimes a pair will thus persecute you for a 

 couple of miles before they finally turn up-stream to return to their proper beat." 

 The flesh of this Duck is hard and dry, with a rank and fishy flavour, but is 

 rendered palatable if the bird be skinned before it is cooked. 



Nidification. The Buddy Sheldrake, like the preceding species, pairs for 

 life, and the male and female are said to be tenderly attached to each other, and 

 rarely stray far apart even during winter. At the breeding grounds in Mongolia, 

 however, Prjevalsky states that the males often fight, not only with themselves 

 but with other species. This Sheldrake is an early breeder, beginning to lay in 



