236 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



Hume thus describes the habits of the 

 Gadwall : "They are, I think, essentially 

 fresh-water birds (I have never seen them 

 really on the sea-coast), but having secured 

 fresh water, they do not seem to have 

 much preference as to locality, and you 

 find them equally in the largest rivers and 

 the smallest hill-streams, in huge lakes 

 and small ponds, in open water (as at the 

 Sambhur lake) where not a reed or rush 

 is to be seen, and in tangled swamps, 

 where there is barely clear water enough 

 to float a walnut. 



" In rivers and in small pieces of water, 

 the Gadwall commonly occurs in small 

 parties of from three to a dozen, but in 

 large lakes I have seen them in flocks of 

 several hundreds. 



" On rivers they are generally to be 

 seen snoozing on the bank during the 

 day, and then they commonly leave these 

 towards sunset for feeding-grounds inland. 

 In broads they keep, if at all disturbed, 

 well out of gunshot towards the centre, 

 sometimes in clear water, more often 

 skulking in low water-weeds ; but in un- 

 frequented places they may, even during 

 the day-time, be found walking on the 

 shore or paddling in the shallows round 

 the edges of the tank, feeding busily with 



