354 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



same time drumming, and the first one we saw was as 

 before observed, uttering his ' tjick-tjuck, tjick-tjuck, tjick- 

 tjuck.' We find the centre tail feathers of this Snipe 

 somewhat abraded at the sides near the tip, leaving part 

 of the quill bare and a tuft at the end, untouched.* 



The following is a description of Ducks' down which we 

 have identified along with the eggs : 



Smews. Light yellow yolk. Nest in an old stump, and 

 down much mixed with chips of rotten wood. Eight 

 eggs. Down light-coloured. Two parcels were brought, 

 the nest having been divided by the two boys who found 

 them. Four eggs and the bottom down of the nest con- 

 taining many chips of wood, and the four others with the 

 rest of the down, much freer from chips of wood, but still 

 having abundance of them. 



Pintail. Down adhesive. Yolk much darker than 

 Smews'. Nine eggs. 



Another nest with the down which we did not make 

 out (and which was still not identified in 1900). The nest 

 was on the ground. Down brown and adhesive. Yolk 

 usual colour. Six eggs, smaller than Pintails', with a 

 slight brownish tinge, as in Bed-breasted Mergansers. 



We left Harbarika in the evening and floated away 

 down the stream gently and silently. We stopped at a 

 fishing encampment, where we shot a Cuckoo, a Hen 

 Harrier, and a Short-eared Owl. We saw the seine net 

 drawn exactly similar to our seine and ' scringe ' nets 

 on the West Coast of Scotland but it was a blank. 

 We stopped here half an hour or so, and then floated 

 away again lazily with the stream, which is at present 

 running at the rate of about four miles an hour. 



The new bird seen to-day was the Bough-legged 

 Buzzard. 



We landed occasionally at likely-looking places, but got 

 * Approaching in this respect the Indian species ? 



