38 INDIAN DUCKS. 



the head is ahvays LelJ low and the hill wide o})en. AVhen angry tlu'y 

 also make a hissing noise at one another. 



They are charming birds in captivity, and are tamed Avithout the 

 slightest difliculty. When the breeding-season ai)[)roaches, they, if not 

 confined or pinioned, fly away ; but throughout the cold-weather months 

 they may be allowed to wander about at their own discretion, and will 

 always kee}) near home if regularly fed. When thus domesticated it i> a 

 curious fact that they seem never to use their wings as a means of loco- 

 motion, but will walk very long distances to and from water. A thick 

 belonging to a planter whose house was nearly half a mile from water 

 invariably icalked there and back every evening, returning to the house 

 for the hot hours of the day and for the night. This particular duck was 

 the object of a wild infatuation on the part of a small domestic drake, who 

 followed her about wherever she went, and as the Wood-Duck could walk 

 at, at least, thrice the rate the drake c >uld, he eventually succundjed to 

 sheer exhaustion and want of time to feed in. She, however, totally 

 ignored all his advances, and in April flew away to find a wild mate. 



They are very impatient of heat and the birds in my aviary always 

 retired indoors as soon as the sun was up, anil even in the cold weather 

 they always kept under cover from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Those 1 sent down 

 to the Calcutta Zoo died very quickly, except one fine drake, who lived 

 about eighteen months before dying of the same disease that carried off all 

 the rest — an affection of the stomach. 



My birds were practically omnivorous, but would touch no dead animal 

 food. Every other day a pail full of small fishes was emptied into their 

 tank, and by nightfall these were generally all accounted for ; but any that 

 died during this ])eriod were never eaten. In the same way, worms that 

 ceased to struggle were discarded, and grasshoppers, frogs, and snails 

 would only be taken if alive. 



They ate paddy and husketl rice freely, and I have kept birds for some 

 weeks on this alone, and they kejjt fat and well iH)on it, but, at the same 

 time, when they were offered aninud food they preferred it to grain. 

 Green food of all sort they refused unless very hungry, and I could 

 never induce them to eat any sort of water-weed, though one would expect 

 them to eat such in a wild state. 



They were extremely expert in catching fish ; as a rule, they skinnned 

 along the top of the water with the head and neck immersed, but when 

 necessary would dive and chase the fish under water. Of course, their 

 speed when doing so was not comparable to that of Cormorants, or the 



