340 LIST OF BIEDS IN MANIPUR, 



[Once when I was away in Dibrugarh, my assistant, at the 

 Dehing Saw Mills, shot a party of three Geese, which he ate, 

 but never even kept the heads or legs of. Now he described 

 them as being like the Grey Lag in plumage, &c., but very 

 much smaller. Col. Graham says they are common on the 

 Brahmaputra. Now I travelled up and down, during the cold 

 weather, from Dibrugarh to Desang very frequently for two 

 years, and I never once saw them, though 1 saw hundreds of 

 the Grey Lag and Barred-headed Geese. Possibly, and for all I 

 know, they may be more frequently to be noticed in this district 

 than anywhere else in India, but I never saw one and they 

 certainly are not common. — J. R. C] 



949— Anser indicus, Lath. 



The Barred-headed Goose was decidedly less common when I 

 was there, both at the Logtak and elsewhere in Manipur, than 

 the Grey Lag, but still I saw a good few, as the Scotchman has 

 it, and shot five or six, a greater feat, wild as they are, than 

 shooting a hundred in the Doab. 



Mr. Eden records this species from Sylhet, where, however, 

 he says that it is rare, and Mr. Forsyth records it from the 

 Brahmaputra at Dhubri, but beyond this I have still no 

 information as to its distribution in Assam, Sylhet or Cachar. 



[This is the common Goose of Dibrugarh, where large flocks 

 are seen on the Brahmaputra sands, and are netted by natives 

 who come up every year from near Gauhatti. They stray 

 inland to the pathars and j heels in small parties, to feed during 

 the day, and it is a veritable feat to get within range then, 

 for, what the reason is I cannot say, they are much wilder in 

 Assam than in any other part of India. The station of Sib- 

 sagar is built on the bund of a huge tank about a mile square, 

 and every day, from about 11 A.M. to 5 p.m., flocks of this 

 species, with occasionally a few Grey Lag, calmly swim about 

 the tank. No one is allowed to fire at them, and they were 

 very fond of resting in packs a few yards, so close in fact to 

 the shore that you could have shied a biscuit amongst them, in 

 front of the Kutcherryand Deputy Commissioner's house which 

 were contiguous. One would have thought they knew that no 

 harm would come to them there. One of the Assistant Commis- 

 sioners, a C. S., who shall be nameless, told me that he had 

 repeatedly gone just outside of the station and fired at them when 

 en route to and from this tank, but they were wary enough to 

 keep out of range, and that he had never bagged one. Col. A. 

 E. Campbell tolji me that for all the time (13 years ) he was 



