WILD DUCK TRAPPING IN SOUTH INDIA. 255 



the weeds the birds are known to frequent, and near 

 to these pots small rafts of plantain bark are placed, 

 with a little paddy, or snails or other bait to attract 

 the birds. The ducks do not take alarm at the 

 approach of the pot under which the bestar is con- 

 cealed, as they imagine it similar to the pots around 

 them. When the bestar gets near to the flock he 

 adroitly puts his hand under the nearest duck, 

 seizes it by the legs, and sharply draws it under 

 water. This creates no alarm, as ducks fre- 

 quently dive down after small fish, etc. He breaks 

 the neck of the duck under water and hangs it to a 

 string round his waist, and then goes for another. 

 In this way he is able to secure a number before 

 the others take alarm and seek safety in flight. 



Another method by which large numbers of wild 

 duck are taken alive shows that the natives are 

 keen observers of the habits of the game. A rough 

 model of the body of a duck is made of pith (the 

 substance of which sola topees are made), and this 

 is stuck over with the feathers of a wild drake of 

 the species they wish to capture. The feathers 

 are most carefully inserted in the pith so as to give 

 a good imitation of the live bird as it floats on the 

 water. Water fowl do not sleep on the water as is 

 generally believed, but make for an island or the 

 sedge-covered margin of the tank at dusk, and 

 sleep there at night. The bestar s note the spots the 

 flocks usually resort to at night, and during the 

 absence of the birds in the day they clear away a 

 funnel-shaped entrance in the sedges. The taper 

 end of the funnel, or V, is towards the shore The 



