INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 191 J 



join -together. Its flight has been described as fast and powerful, and 

 its voice as a musical edition of that of the Mallard (^4. boscas). 



As regards its food there seems to be nothing on record beyond 

 Mr. Shillingford's note on the gizzard of a bird he examined and found 

 to contain " half-digested water weeds and various kinds of small 

 shells." This is, however, important, as it shows that it is both an 

 animal and vegetarian feeder. 



Most writers call this a shy and wild bird, but my father 

 (E. B. Baker), who knew the bird well, did not consider it to be either 

 a particularly wary or wild bird, though of a very shy, retiring 

 disposition. I remember when I first came out to India, some ten 

 years or so ago, he had several of these birds' skins amongst his 

 collection of Maldah bird skins, but all these skins have been either lost 

 or destroyed, and it is now so long since I last saw them that I cannot 

 speak with certainty of the variations they showed in their plumage. 



Most of these ducks had been shot by him when shooting with the 

 late W. Reilly and some of the Shillingfords in Maldah and Purneah. 

 At the end of a day's shoot when promiscuous firing had become the 

 order, one or two of these ducks would often be added to the bag, 

 getting up in front of the line of elephants as they worked through 

 country in which there were any small ponds and jhils. 



Genus NETTAPUS. 



Unlike the two last genera, the present one contains four species, 

 though of these only one is found in Indian limits. The type of the 

 genus is Nettapus auritus, which is found throughout a great part 

 of South Africa and also in Madagascar. The other two forms, 

 N. pulchellas and N. albipennis, are both Australian, the former being 

 obtained in New Guinea and some other islands. 



Nettapus can be distinguished from all other genera by the following 

 characteristics being combined in it : 



Bather long hind toe not lobed, feet palmated, neck short, wing 

 under 7". 



{9) Nettapus coramandelianus. The Cotton Teal. 



Nettapus coramandelianusl— Jerdon, " Birds of India," III, p. 786 ; 

 Butler, " Str. Feath.," IV, p. 27 > Hume, ibid ; Hume and Davison, 

 VI, p. 486 ; Oates, ibid, VII, p. 62 ; Cripps, ibid, p. 311 ; 



