ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAE. 347 



969.— Fuligula nyroca, Guld. 



Kather scarce in Manipur. I saw it however at two j heels, 

 besides the Logtak, where it was often seen without its being 

 at all in force. 



As regards Assam, Sylhet and Cachar, the only thing I 

 know is that Inglis shot and sent me a specimen from N.-E. 

 Cachar. No one else has apparently observed it. 



Blyth records it from Arakan, but this requires confirmation, 

 and so far as we know it does not occur in either Pegu ot 

 Tenasserim. 



971.— Fuligula cristata, Leach, 



Next to the Grey Duck, the Tufted Pochard is the common- 

 est duck in Manipur as a whole, while looking only to the 

 Logtak it is the commonest. The entire huge lake is covered 

 with them from end to end ; all other species seem dotted about 

 on the black and white background they form. During the 

 period at which I visited the lake there must, I believe, have 

 been several hundreds of thousands of this species there. 

 The lake was a failure, no great variety, not a single new or 

 rare duck or goose, but every part of it was crowded with 

 this species as I never saw any other large lake crowded with 

 any species. The Manchur lake in good years is an infinitely 

 better place for sport, but if we deduct Coots, which are in 

 millions at the Manchur, I believe that the actual tale of 

 water fowl at the Manchur would fall below that of the 

 Logtak, solely by virtue of the incredible numbers of the 

 Tufted Pochard that swarm over the latter lake. 



I have often noticed that, while swimming about, the 

 males of this species appear to have a huge white patch on 

 each wing, whereas when you shoot them there is a very 

 small extent of white on the wing. I never before took the 

 trouble to solve this little problem, but at the Logtak I dis- 

 covered that this species has huge pure white, sub-axillary 

 flank tufts, inside which when swimming it nestles the 

 wing, the major portion of which it thus hides. 



To this day I have no record of its occurrence in any part 

 of Assam, Sylhet, Cachar or British Burmah, and yet it needs 

 must occur in all but the latter. 



In many parts of Assam the Merganser, 972. — Mergus 

 merganser^ Lin., has been observed in streams issuing from the 

 Himalayas ; from the Monas in the Kamrup district east- 

 wards. It has also been observed near Sadiya and the streams 



