INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 573 



Scind, the Punjab, ancTthe North-West Provinces and Oudh. In 

 Bengal its occurrence is most rare ; it has been obtained once or 

 twice near Calcutta, and once again lately in the Calcutta bazaar.* Only 

 recently Kashmir has been added to its habitat, a pair having been 

 twice met with in that locality. This extremely handsome and con- 

 spicuous bird, although so little likely to be overlooked and having a 

 wide possible range through Northern India, is yet but seldom met with, 

 and is never or hardly ever, seen for any length of time in one locality. 

 This, as Hume explains, is probably due to the fact that their natural 

 habitat is not fresh water but the sea- shore, and the sea-shore where it 

 is clean. Most of our shore is not clean, and very little of it is visited 

 and well-known, so that even the few birds which do haunt it may well 

 escape observation. The rest who make up their minds on India for 

 a winter habitat are compelled to resort to the largest pieces of water 

 they can find which have suitable sandy shores and churs on which 

 they may walk about. They are essentially land and not water ducks, 

 and may be found nine times out of ten strutting about or resting 

 quietly on some sandy bank or shore. When disturbed they do not 

 take to the water and thence to wing but at once rise in*o the air, 

 uttering their shrill call as they first take the alarm, and once in flight 

 they soon put a long distance between themselves and the cause of 

 their disturbance. They are strong both on the leg and the wing ; on 

 the former their actions are decidedly more goose- than duck-like and 

 they walk well, quickly, and in a very erect attitude. When flying, on 

 the other hand, they approach more nearly the ducks, making less 

 commotion with their wings than do the geese. I have never heard 

 their n6te but it has been variously described, and is as far as I can 

 make out a very similar cry to that of the Brahminy Duck in the breed- 

 ing season but more shrill and high-pitched at other times. Hume calls 

 it a harsh quack which he says might perhaps be called a whistle. 



They dive well and swim well but are loath to take to either 

 expedient, and it is only when severely wounded that they resort to it. 



* Mr. Finn writes to me : " As to the occurrence of the sheldrake in the Calcutta bazaar, 

 I have seen or got it several times since I cam? out here in 1894, and only to-day two dead 

 immature birds were brought me. I have seen at least one more this winter from up-country." 



From this it would appear that the sheldrake is not of such rare occurrence as has hither- 

 to been considered to be the case, and that in spite of its conspicuous plumage it must h& 

 sometimes overlooked. 



