MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1^7 



Some time early in February 1900 eight swans were seen at Bostan, on 

 the Beluchistan frontier : four of these birds were shot, three dead and one 

 winged ; this latter bird is still alive, I believe ; Mr. Mathews, Platelajer, 

 who shot them, says it was bitterly oold at the; time, and the birds were 

 fairly tame. 



About the middle of March a swan was shot on the Munchar Lake by 

 Mr. Cross, of the I. C. S., who says the bird was among a lot of duck and 

 fairly easy of approach. 



At the end of March tea swan were seen for three consecutive days on the 

 Laki Lake, On the third day, Mr. Vivian, Platelayer, fired nine shots at 

 them before they flew away ; he used an ordinary 12-bore gun and No. 1 

 shot ; he says that the birds were about 100 yards off on the water, and that 

 he could hear the shot rattle against them. 



On 27th April one was shot by Mr, Wragge, Platelayer, Meting, — the 

 river Indus runs about twelve miles from Meting. The bird was seated on a 

 small sand drift close to the bank. No. 2 shot at about 40:yards. The weather 

 was very warm at the time, and the bird was sent to Karachi to be cured, 

 but the man there threw it away finding it too much for his olfactory organs. 

 This was an adult bird. 



G. C. McMULLEN. 



KoTKi, SiND, Sth June 1901, 



No. XIIL— WELD ANIMALS AT WATER, 



A considerable amount of misconception appears to prevail, even among 

 scientific naturalists, regarding the drinking habits of wild animals. In order 

 to illustrate this I may quote from several works on the fauna of India, to 

 which my knowledge is limited. Thus Mr. Blanford believes that the Indian 

 gazelle never drinks, and states that he "never saw the easily recognised 

 footprints of gazelles among those of the animals that habitually came to 

 drink at the pools," Mr, Sterndale, in his Natural History of the Mammalia 

 of India, tells us that it is his belief that sambur drink only every third day. 

 In his lately issued work on The Great and Small Game of India Mr. Lydek= 

 ker remarks that " nilgai can exist with but a small supply of water ; and it 

 is probable that, in the cold season at least, they drink only every second or 

 third day and at a pinch could go for a considerably longer period without 

 liquid," Again, with regard to the Indian antelope we are informed in the 

 same publication, " whether it ever drinks is a matter on which there may be 

 some difference of opinion among observers, but that it can exist perfectly 

 well without taking liquid food is demonstrated by the existence of a herd on a 

 narrow spit of land between the Chilka Salt Lake in Orissa and the sea 

 where, for a distance of thirty miles, the only fresh water obtainable is' 

 derived from wells," As this question of animals being " addicted to drink " 

 is one of some importance both to naturalists and sportsmen, and aa conflicting 



