ANAS PCECILOEHYXCHA. 135 



" This (the JSpotted-billed Duck) is a very common duck in Manipur^ 

 though in the rains and in the nesting-season, owing to the dense grassy 

 jheels to which it resorts, it is seldom seen." 



Hume seems to think that it never ascends the hills to any height; but 

 it is found in Manipur up to 3000 feet. Major Woods records it from 

 the Tankul Hills at heights over 3000 feet. I have seen it in the Cachar 

 Hills in valleys up to about the same height ; and it has been recorded 

 from the Darjeeling Terai up to about 4000 feet. 



The Spotted-billed Duck is not a sociable bird, either with its own 

 kind or with other species of duck ; often it is found singly or in pairs, 

 and the flocks seldom number much over a dozen, though in rare instances 

 they run up to as much as forty. Indeed, Major Mclnroy, as quoted by 

 Hume, had frequently observed flocks of at least a hundred, and these he 

 had seen both on the wino- and at rest. 



If they ever have to associate with other ducks, Hume says that they 

 give the preference to Teal or Shovellers ; and Woods writes to me : " I 

 have often seen an old solitary Spot-bill piloting a flock of Teal across a 

 jheel and jungle." In such cases the Spot-bill may have had the 

 company of Teal thrust upon him whether he desired it or not. 



Their haunts seem to vary very much ; probably they prefer tanks,, 

 jheels, and small pieces of water which are well covered with weeds, and 

 they seldom resort to large open pieces of water. Thus, in Manipur, I am 

 told the Spot-bills do not, as a rule, frequent any of the larger, clearer 

 sheets of water, and that on the Lagtak it is quite a rare duck when 

 compared with the others which are found on that lake. They inhabit the 

 smaller jheels, which are surrounded near the margin by jungle, and here 

 they may be seen all asleep, except one or two which are on sentry-duty 

 near the edge. In the district of Mymensingh, however, they are found 

 in the vast bheels which stretch for miles in every direction, and here also 

 they breed in great numbers. 



They are also found, though I think but rarely^ on small quickly 

 flowing streams in forest. On the other hand, on some of the bigger rivers 

 they are not uncommon. Hume has " shot them several times both on the 

 Ganges and Jumna (on both of which, however, they are rare), while on 

 the Jhelum, Chenab, and Indus they are quite common.''^ Woods has " shot 

 numbers of them on the banks of the Irrawaddy close to Sagaing.^' They 

 are found, though not frequently, on the Brahmapootra, but they have 

 been reported to me as being common on that river on the part whicli runs 

 through Sadiya. I have no record of their occurrence on the Megna, 



