322 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



they are slow in getting under weigh). 

 If flushed from water, they strike it re- 

 peatedly as they rise with their feet, much 

 after the fashion of Coots, but in a less 

 exaggerated style. Rising out of the 

 reeds, they fluster up and go off much 

 like Partridges, with a low, straight flight, 

 often dropping suddenly, almost Quail- 

 like, after a short flight. 



"On land, one never sees them many 

 paces distant from the water's edge, and 

 running down to it, they shuffle along 

 most clumsily. 



" In the water they are at home ; they 

 swim with great rapidity and dive marvel- 

 lously. Indeed, what becomes of them is 

 often a puzzle : the instant that, wounded, 

 they touch the water, they disappear, and 

 not unfrequently that is the last you see 

 of them ; at most they only rise once or 

 twice, and then disappear for good. It 

 is waste of time to pursue them ; if they 

 do rise, give them instantly a second 

 barrel. 



" I have often, when lying up hid in 

 the reeds, waiting for more valuable fowl 

 to come over, watched little parties of 

 them feeding in some tiny, weedy, reed- 

 hedged opening. Part of the time they 

 swim about nibbling at the herbage or 



