226 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



This curious habit is corroborated by 

 Mr. G. T. Booth in his " Rough Notes." 

 He writes : " I never noticed large mixed 

 bodies of males and females, seldom more 

 than ten or a dozen being in company 

 when both sexes were represented, though 

 thirty, forty, or even fifty drakes were 

 often met with by themselves." 



Mr. Hume further observes : " The 

 Pin-tail, when undisturbed, is a silent 

 bird by day, and rarely utters any sound, 

 even when feeding, though I have, when 

 lying up pretty close to them, heard a 

 little low chatteration going on, more 

 like the low clucking of hens than any- 

 thing else. But when alarmed by day, 

 and pretty constantly by night, they 

 utter their peculiar soft quack, such a 

 note as one might expect a Mallard, not 

 quite sure whether he meant to speak or 

 not, to emit quite different from the 

 sharp quack of the Gadwall, softer and 

 less strident than that of the Mallard, 

 but still not at all feeble, on the contrary 

 audible at a great distance." 



Montagu describes the notes of the Pin- 

 tail as being " extremely soft and inward ; 

 the courting note is always attended with 

 a jerk of the head; the other greatly 

 resembles that of a very young kitten, 



