HINTERLAND NOTES 473 



are these birds, when going through their aerial evolutions, 

 that one cartridge, with BB, has been seen to bring down 

 fourteen birds. I have known sixteen to be brought in by a 

 yaggamana, who has expended only one of three cartridges 

 he had taken out with him. The Indian name for the large 

 duck is maiwa, they call the vicissi wawing, while the teal is 

 known as ropong. It is well to know these names, when one 

 is seeking the assistance of the Indians to find the different 

 species. The vicissi and the king duck, as I shall call Cai- 

 rina moschata, seem to be commoner than the Bahama duck, 

 for we seldom saw, or secured the last-named. The king 

 duck can always be detected, in flight, by the broad bars of 

 white which flash from its wings. The Indians stalk these 

 ducks in a marvellous way, wading through water, with body 

 bent nearly to the surface, taking cover behind bushes or 

 grasses, with the gun held a few inches from the water, and 

 brought, with a sloth-like movement to the present, when at 

 close range. The Indian is a wonderful hunter, but he 

 dislikes taking a sporting shot. He will not take a bird 

 on the wing. I achieved a nine days' notoriety by taking 

 a monster king duck, as it rose from the river, at a dis- 

 tance of just over forty yards. It was the largest speci- 

 men I saw, not magnified by lenses of the Ego brand! 

 Where the river passes through forest belts, as at Uruata, 

 Simuni, and Rewa, the king duck may be found in some 

 quiet spot, besporting himself with his wives and family, of 

 two, or perhaps, three. It would seem that ducks lose a con- 

 siderable number of their young, ere they reach maturity. 

 Their foes are legion. The perai and the tiger-fish are ever 

 on the look-out for a duckling, and even for a full-grown 

 bird. The alligator, too, makes a meal of them. And the 

 cat tribe is ready, whensoever they are ashore. The king 

 duck nests in the hollows of trees ; while the vicissi makes its 

 nest amongst reeds and grasses. 



To the north of the Mission, upon the savannahs, cranes, 

 negro-cops, ibises, flamingoes and spurwings may be ob- 



