GLEANINGS FROM THE CALCUTTA MARKET. 491 



937. — Nycticorax griseus, Lin. 

 938. — Tantalus leucocephalns, Forst. 

 939. — Platalea leucorodia, Lin. 



Each and all of 

 these I have seen 

 occasionally. T h e y 

 may be seen twice 

 or three times one 



940. — Anastomus oscitans, Bodd. r-year, not at all the 



941. — Ibis nxelanocephala, Lath. 

 943. — Falcinellus igneus, S. G. Gm. 

 944. — Phoenicopterus antiquorum. Tern. 



next. I don't think 

 I have seen any one 

 of them more than 

 a dozen times in half 

 as many years. 



945. — Anser cinereus, Meyer. 

 949. — Anser indicus, Lath. 



These are the only Greese that I have ever seen in the market. 

 They are about equally common. 



On the average, I should say, that not more than one of each 

 is brought in per week. Sometimes a whole month passes 

 without one being seen, and then several are brought, but I 

 should guess that from 60 to 70 of each come in during the 

 cold season. 



950. — Sarcidiornis melanonotus, Penn. 



This is perhaps rarer than the two preceding. I should 

 say that about 20 to 30 altogether come in during the cold 

 season ; but during the rains more are said to be captured. 



951. — Nettopus coromandelianus, Gm. 



Right through the year, summer and winter, this little 

 Goose or Cotton Teal abounds in the market. In number, even 

 in January, it exceeds that of all the other Ducks put together. 

 Two or three hundred is not at all an uncommon number to 

 come in, in one morning. I have known over 500 to be brought. 

 Where all these birds come from is, in this case also, a perfect 

 mystery to me. The limits within which the people assure me 

 that all their birds are captured (very few are shot) cannot, 

 it seems to me, supply the requisite number of a resident species 

 like this. In the case of migratory species, it matters less ; 

 you may clear off one area this year, but next year a new set 

 of migrants will restock it ; but in the case of a non-migra- 

 tory species, I cannot understand how persecution like this 

 (fully 20,000 must be caught during the year) does not exter- 

 minate it. 



Of this, however, I see no signs. It is ten years since I 

 first began to watch this market ; I notice a manifest falling 

 off in the numbers of the migratory Ducks, uone in those of 

 the Cotton Teal. 



