632 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



No. XXV.— WOOD-DUCK (ASARCORNIS SCUTULATA) IN 



MANTPUR. 



It may interest you to know that I have recently met with three speci- 

 mens of the White-winged|Wood»Duck, Asarcornis scutulata, in t'heh.iWsnQQ.v 

 here. This species is common in the Upper Chindwin District of Burma, 

 which adjoins Manipur, and comparatively so in Upper Assam ; but I think 

 I am correct in saying that it has not hitherto been observed in Manipur 

 itself. I was recently on tour in the hills in the north-west of the State, and 

 on July 24th was crossing a small hill stream below Laishan village, known 

 as Laishan Lokchao (height, a little over 3,000 ft.) when the Kukis who were 

 with me, told me that there was a deep pool further up the ravine on which 

 duck were usually found. They told me that the pool had been formed in 

 the night some 15 years ago by a landslip which choked up the ravine. It 

 was with some difhculty that I persuaded them to show me the way to the 

 pool, for they firmly believed it to be haunted, saying that two men who 

 shot duck on the pool a few years ago had died very shortly after. The 

 pool was in a narrow part of the ravine, with steep cliffs on each side. The 

 cliff to the west was wooded, and above and below the pool was high grass 

 above one's head. The pool was about 80 yards long and 30 yards broad. 

 On arriving at one end, I put up a wood-duck, which flew to the other end, 

 where there was another swimming about. I climbed through the jungle 

 to the neighbourhood of the other end, and put up three wood-duck, which 

 flew away down the ravine. The Kukis, who were with me, told me that 

 they had seen that kind of duck occasionally in the rains along the banks 

 of the Iril River (of which this small stream was a tributary), but had never 

 seen them in the cold weather. I doubt, however, if much reliance can 

 be placed in their powers of observation or memory. 



J. C. HUGGINS, i.o.s. 

 Imphal, Manipuk State, 

 14^ August 1913. 



No, XXVI.— FIGHTING FISH (BJETTA PUGNAX). 



I obtained six of these little fish from Siam at Singapore on June 26th, 

 1913, each one being in a separate bottle with a perforated cover, this 

 latter precaution being necessary as they jump out at every opportunity ; 

 in fact I have gone into my cabin two or three times and found one on the 

 mat in quite a dry state and apparently dead, but on placing it back into 

 the water it always returned to life, being a very hardy fish. 



I have had several of these fish at different times and have always kept 

 them in a simple glass jam jar, half full of water and a little water weed, 

 changing the water every two days. 



As to food I have only given them one grain of boiled rice each fish every 

 two days. This fish when by itself in its own little bottle is quite a quiet, 

 unattractive little fellow and small, only two inches long, with one big 

 dorsal fin, one large and two small long fins like spikes, ventrals, on the 

 underside and two pectorial fins. In colour it is a dull green and red, the 

 fins are all closed up and look small. 



The change comes however when you place the two bottles close together 

 and the fish catch sight of each other, suddenly up go their fins which with 

 the tail swell out, and as the fish get more excited, the whole body gets 

 more vivid in colour, red, blue, green and yellow and these colours change 

 rapidly as the fish rush about and the light catches them at various angles. 



The pectorial fins fan the water very rapidly, causing strong currents iu 



