THE NAKBADA VALLEY. 51 



them, before the true history of the country opens; and a few 

 shapeless ruins still remain to mark the sites of some of these 

 settlements "in the unremembered ages." Generally, how- 

 ever, even the religious edifices, which in the East seem to 

 outlast all others, will be found to be of very modern date, 

 and of little pretension to interest. They will frequently be 

 met with standing on the embankment of some water tank, 

 covered with the lotus in full bloom, and shaded by great 

 trees of mango, tamarind, and fig. Very often the camp will 

 be pitched alongside of them, for the sake of the fine shade ; 

 and the wildfowl and snipe that frequent the tanks will pro- 

 bably form an attraction, to the sportsman at least, superior 

 to the allurements of such poor antiquities. 



Snipe and wildfowl begin to arrive in these central regions 

 of India, voyaging from the frozen wilds of Central Asia, 

 early in October; and, before the end- of November, every 

 piece of water and swampy hollow affords its contingent to 

 the gun. The common teal,* and the whistling teal,f are the 

 most numerous as well as the first to make their appearance. 

 The lovely blue- winged teal J is scarcely less common; and 

 of larger ducks, the red-headed pochard, || the wigeon, the 

 pintail,! and the gadwall,** are found throughout the winter 

 on nearly every tank of tolerable size. On the main rivers, 

 and on the larger reservoirs such as those of Bhandara and 

 Lachora in Nimar, which, though owing their existence to the 

 hand of man (the giants of past days, who knew the require- 

 ments of India better than their successors), yet approach the 

 dignity of lakes, many other species of wild fowl will be 

 found, including that king of ducks the mallard, If the common 



* Querquedula crecca. Mareca penelope. 



t Dendrocygna awsuree. ^[ Dafila acuta. 



% Q. circia. ** Chandlelasmus streperus. 



|| Anthia ferina, ft Anas boschas. 



E 2 



