LIST OF BIRDS FOUND IN MYINGYAN DISTRICT. 503 



I once saw a dark goose in a flock of barred-headed and took it for a ■white- 

 fronted goose, but failed to bag it. 



1584. Sareidiornis melanotus. — The Comb Duck. 

 Local name " Mauktin ". Common all the year round. Colonel Keary told me 

 they bred at the foot of the Shan Hills some 20 miles east of our eastern bound- 

 ary. Captain Penny, I. M.S., and I weighed a very large male comb duck which we 

 shot at Paunglin on the 11th December 1901 and he turned the scale at 61b. 2 oz. 

 1588. Casarca rutila.—The Brahminy Duck or Ruddy Sheldrake. 

 Local name " Hintha ". The Brahminy is the first of the migratory ducks to 

 arrive here in any numbers and very nearly the last to leave. He is the noisiest, 

 handsomest and least edible duck J know. 



1589. Dendrocycna javanica. — The Whistling Teal. 

 Local name " Sisali". Common on Tanaungdaing and Tanokmyo jheels. I 

 shot a female on the 7th August 1902 with eggs in her about the size of a 16- 

 bore bullet. 



1590. Dendrocycna fulva, — The Large Whistling Teal. 

 Seem to be almost as common as its smaller relative during the cold weather 

 but I don't know whether it breeds in the district or not. 



1591. Nettopus coromandelianus. — The Cotton Teal. 

 Local name " Kalagat ". Very common all the year round and no doubt 

 breeds, although I have not taken the nest. 



1593. Anas poecilorhyncha.— The Spotted-billed or Grey Duck. 

 Local name " Taw-be". A resident bird. Eggs have been brought to me 

 in October and I came on a brood of ducklings only a few days old at Panyo on 

 the 13th December 1902. This appears very late and I am inclined to think 

 that all water birds have to breed late here owing to the fact that the height 

 of the water in their breeding haunts is quite unsettled because of rises and 

 falls in the river until October. About the end of September the water begins 

 to fall in earnest and only then would it be safe for those birds that nest 

 on the ground or on the shrubs in the jheels to commence building. In Sep- 

 tember I found a clutch of 14 eggs of the present species deserted because a 

 sudden rise had inundated the nest. The eggs were fairly fresh and were blown 

 out and eaten by the Burmans with me. 



1595. Chaulelasmus streperus. — The Gadwall. 

 Very uncommon in Myingyan. Appears early but does not remain on our 

 jheels. 



1597. Nettium crecca. — The Common Teal. 

 Birds in good plumage are not shot before January. Very plentiful. 



1599. Mareca penelope. — The Wigeon. 

 In December 1898 I shot a wigeon out of a flight of Pintail cluck, but this 

 is the only time I have come across it. 



1600. Dafila acuta.— -The Pintail. 

 Does not appear in very great numbers and one is lucky if there are half a 

 dozen pintails in a bag of 30 birds. 



