INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES, 365 



In Bengal, at all events, where the rivers are deep and " muggers" 

 plentiful, I fancy that flighting at night offers the best chances of a bag 

 where they are to be found in weedy lagoons ; they can, of course, often 

 be approached by dug-outs with a small screen in front of the boat 

 composed of green branches or reeds, but when the water is open and 

 there is no natural cover, the birds are much too wily to be imposed 

 on by the screen. Of course, if one goes in for shooting them as they 

 fly overhead to and from their feeding-grounds, one cannot expect to 

 obtain large bags, except with unusual luck. Mr. Ried, in "Game Birds," 

 narrates how he has got as many as thirty birds between sunset and 

 7-30 p.m., but, as a rule, less than half of this would be considered a 

 good bag. Of course the charm of variety is added to the enjoyment 

 of the shoot, for in flighting almost any kind of duck may turn up 

 and join the game bag. 



Hume's appeal to Indian sportsmen to try Pryevalski's plan of lying 

 on the ground and waving his hat at the geese in order to induce them 

 to approach, seems to have met with no response ; at all events I can 

 And no bags, heavy or otherwise, recorded as having been made thus. 



They are, of course, almost entirely vegetable feeders, and it is 

 wonderful what damage a flock can do to young crops even in a single 

 night and where they are numerous, as they are in Upper India, and 

 visit the same feeding-grounds night after night, they take no small 

 percentage of the wretched villagers' winter crops. They will eat 

 almost any young, tender, green stuff, but probably prefer the late rice 

 crops to any other. They feed as a rule during the night-time, but, 

 where they are not interfered with, commence to graze about 4 P.M.and 

 continue on the grounds until an hour or so after sunrise. 



Their flight is typically goose-like and in the usual V formation,, 

 Mr, Damant notes a very peculiar action of these birds : — " They then 

 appear flying in the form, of a wedge, each bird keeping his place with 

 perfect regularity. When they reach the lake they circle round once 

 or twice, and finally, before settling, each bird tumbles over in the air 

 two or three times, precisely like a tumbler pigeon ; after they have 

 once settled they preserve no regular formation.' ' 



As a matter of fact each bird does not, as a rule, if ever, keep in his 

 exact place in the V, but all observers have noticed that geese and other 

 birds, which adopt a V-shaped or line formation in flying, constantly 



