11() INDIAN' DICKS. 



Rajputaiia. From u.< tar .-outh a-> ("cylun they arc noted as not uuconnnon. 

 Legge, in tlio Appendix to the ' Birds of Ceylon/ says : — *' This Sheldrake 

 can no longer he relegated to the doubtful or unjiroeui'ed speeies in the 

 Ceylon lists. Mr. G. Simpson, of" the Indian Telegraph Dejjartment, has 

 lately sent a jjortion of the skin of a male shot by him in the Jaffna 

 district to Mr. Parker for identification. He likewise furnishes a descrip- 

 tion of the birdj which has been forwardeil to me, and there is no doubt 

 about the matter. The wing of the example in question measures 14'7r> 

 inches. Mr. Sim})Son says they are not uncommon in the cool season on 

 the Jaffna lake, near Pooneryn, and on the Delft, Palverainkadoo and 

 Mullaittivu lagoons. They are, he finds, very wary, flying high wiien 

 disturbed, and uttering a note like conh, conk-." 



To Southern Burmah it is a very rare straggler, and I can find none 

 but anonymous records of its occurrence there. 



Gates observes {in loc. cit.) : " The Brahminy Duck is a visitor to the 

 Province from Gctober to March. It is very abundant in the large rivers 

 of Pegu: l)ut Mr. Davison did not ol)serve it in Tenasserim. It is probably 

 common in Arrakan, whence Mr. Blytli received it.^^ 



Like Mr. Inglis, I have found the Ruddy Sheldrake a rare bird in 

 Cachar, and not common in East Sylhet, where the rivers are too muddy 

 and are wanting in suitable sandy banks and chur-. In South and "West 

 Sylhet they are much more common, for there the risers begin to widen 

 out into fine clear streams. 



In Grissa it is not uncommon to find this Ijird on the salt backwaters 

 and pools and even on the shore itself. It is very common on the Chilka 

 Lake, and I have seen it on the bracki.-h tidal waters of the Sundei-bumls. 



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 ])lain. 

 In Kashmir they a]i]iear to 1k' met with more or less throughout the cold 

 season, but, probably, desert the higher \alleys of the Himalayas durino- 

 the coldest period. 



Hume savs : "They arri\(' in flocks, and liefore leaving in A[)ril gather 

 agJiin into these, but during the winter they are almost imariably seen in 

 pairs. Gften several pairs may l>e seen congregating in the same jilace, 

 but even then each i)air separates on any alarm and act> on its own behalf 

 and without reference, to the others." 



In Bengal, and further south proljably, few people see them in flocks, 

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



