344 LIST OF BIRDS IN MANIPUBj 



Mr. Inglis assured me that, though very rare there, he had 

 more than once shot Mallard, 958. — Anas boscas, Lin., in Cachar. 

 Presumably he was able to recognize the bird, but I have 

 no other record of its occurrence in Assam, Sylhet, Cachar 

 or British Burmah, and neither I nor Dam ant met with it 

 in Manipur. 



959.— Anas poecilorhyncha, ForsL 



This is the Duck of Manipur, common in every pond and 

 jheel, and in many mere ditches .15 or 20 feet wide, and 

 excessively abundant and very tame on the Logtak lake. 

 While the rest of the wild fowl at the lake were exceptionally 

 wild, the Grey Ducks were tamer than I have ever seen 

 them elsewhere. As a rule they only swam a little out of 

 the way of the boats, and very seldom, if ever, dreamt of 

 rising unless these approached within thirty yards of them. 

 As I had a good many persons with me who eat wild fowl 

 and were glad to get these, I daily, when at the lake, shot 

 from six to ten Grey Ducks, but I could have shot twenty or 

 thirty of these daily, all sitting shots, at distances between 

 85 and 40 yards. Nay sometimes a pair or two floating 

 leisurely just outside some thin rush bed have allowed 

 the boat to pass quite unconcernedly within even ten or 

 fifteen yards. 



This species occurs all over Assam right up to Sadiya, and 

 also in both Sylhet and Cachar, but it seems to be every- 

 where comparatively scarce. 



[This fine Duck is common, though nowhere numerically 

 abundant, and a permanent resident in Dibrugarh. They 

 frequent the paddy fields and swamps in pairs, which 

 congregate in small parties during the cold weather. A female 

 shot on the 24th April had one fully formed egg in her 

 stomach and the yolks of five more. The female shot on the 

 23rd May was in company with three young ones, a few days 

 old. The generative organs are enlarged by the first week 

 in March.— J. R. C] 



It also occurs in Northern Arakan, but not so far as I know 

 in either Pegu or Tenasserim. 



960.— Rhodonessa caryophyllacea, Lath. 



This species is very scarce in Manipur ; I only saw it at 

 the Logtak lake, and there I only saw one party that kept 

 up in a weedy lagoon at the north-east corner of the lake, 

 where it was imnossible to get them. I did get a single 



