SAECIDIORNIS MELANONOTA. 27 



much the same kind o£ places, and also in paddy-fields ; but he says that 

 in Burmah it is found " singl}', in pairs, or in small flocks o£ twenty or 

 thirty individuals." Jerdon, on the other hand, says that, although it is 

 generally found only in small parties of four to ten individuals, yet it is 

 sometimes found in flocks numbering over a hundred. This I should 

 imagine is most unusual, and we may take it for granted that, as a rule, 

 they go in pairs only, except when they have a famil}', and that occasionally 

 two or more families join forces ; and again, when the breeding-season 

 is over, the young are often to be found singly, the old birds alone con- 

 tinuing to keep in pairs. Mr. Young found them in flocks in both the 

 X.W.P. and in the Panch Mahals, but adds " they seem to keep their 

 pairs even in the flock, for when one has been shot, and the flock has 

 flown away, I have observed one remain behind and flying round, searching 

 for its mate." 



The general consensus of opinion appears to be that they are not very 

 war}' birds, and in consequence are not hard to bring to bag. Of course, 

 as Hume says, you cannot walk up to them and pot them as they swim 

 about unconcernedly on Ihe water ; but with comparatively little trouble 

 and care one ought always to succeed in getting near enough for a shot, 

 unless the country sui-rounding them is utterly bare and destitute of co^•er 

 for the sportsmen. Once disturbed^ their flight, &c., is variously descril)ed. 

 Hume says : " Their flight is powerful and fairly rapid, and that they are 

 all round quicker, more active birds than geese, ])oth on the wing and in 

 the water." Jerdon, however, did not think much of the bird as a 

 "progressionist," and Legge descril)es their flight as heavy, and leads one 

 generally to the belief that he deemed it rather an awkward, clumsy bird — 

 which it certainly is not. Tickell's remarks in general on this bird 

 vary so much from those recorded from other people that they must be 

 quoted nearly in full : — " I have met with these birds chiefly about West 

 Burdwan, Bankoora, Singhhoom, and Chota Nagpur, in open, uncultivated, 

 l)ushy country, or on a gravelly soil scattered over with small, clear ponds 

 or tanks, wliere they may be found in parties of four or five, resting during 

 the heat of the day on the clean pebbly or sandy margins, and flying off", 

 if disturbed, to the next piece of water. Wherever found, they ai)pear to 

 prefer clear water, with a gravelly or stony bottom, and are never found 

 in shallow, muddy jhils or marshes, which attract such hosts of other 

 kinds of wild fowl. They are wary, and as they take to wing, generally 

 at a long-shot distance, and have both skin and plumage exceedingly thick, 

 it is difficult to kill them with an ordinary fowling-piece ; and if winged 



