INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 579 



Except in midwinter they are to be met with in considerable numbers 

 in the lofty valleys of the Himalayan rivers, in Kashmir and at other 

 equally lofty elevations and from thence down to the level of the plains. 

 In Kashmir they appear to be met with more or less throughout the 

 cold season, but, probably, desert the higher valleys of the Himalayas 

 during the Goldest period. 



Hume says " They arrive in flocks and before leaving in April 

 gather again into these, but during the winter they are almost invari- 

 ably seen in pairs. Often several pairs may be seen congregated in the 

 same place, but even then each pair comes out distinct on any alarm 

 and acts on its own behoof and without reference to the others." 



In Bengal and further south probably few people see them in flocks 

 even when they arrive or when about to depart, as the flocks seem to 

 break up soon after their arrival in Northern India, and the pairs 

 then make their way to their final destination, free from the influence 

 of the birds they started with. In Northern India the first few birds 

 arrive as early as — perhaps even earlier than — the end of Sep- 

 tember and then work slowly South arriving in Central India and ad- 

 joining provinces at least a month later, nor are they common in 

 Bengal until early November. In Southern India they are rare before 

 the end of that month. The latter they leave again in the end of 

 February and early in March, by the middle of that month nearly all 

 have left Lower Bengal, the Central Provinces and Central Bombay, 

 and by the beginning of April they are just thinning in Northern 

 India and most have gone before May sets in. They have been of 

 course recorded throughout that month, and even in Bengal I once 

 saw a pair in the end of April, but these are, I think, but mere examples 

 of the exceptions that prove the rule. 



The Brahminy is not an object of sport with Europeans, save for 

 those whose motto is " Kill what, when, and where you can ;" this 

 principally because, even when divested of its tough and greasy skin, 

 he is not worth eating unless with an extra dose of the hunger sauce. 

 He is, however, well worth while to shoot, or try to shoot, if you are 

 not an old hand at duck-shooting, for by the time you have learnt to 

 circumvent and bring to bag " Chakwa and Chakwi " you may rest 

 satisfied that you have learnt most of the arts necessary to render 

 stalking ducks and geese a successful pastime. They are, as is almost 

 i 



* 



