164 INDIAN PICKS. 



Roughly spoiikino-, fho liahitat ofc' the ChickiDg Teal may he said to 

 be the eastern portion of Asia, south of the TOtli degRH' north latitude, 

 and east of longitude 80 deoroes. To the south its boundary mav be 

 taken as the 20th degree latitude. It is extremely connnon in many 

 parts of Southern China, central East ( 'hina, Formosa, and the south 

 of Japan in the Avinter, but it has at no time been reported from Yesso 

 or elsewhere to the north of Japan. The extreme north of (liina, 

 Mongolia, Manchuria, and perhaps Korea, it seems only to visit on 

 migration, its sununer home being Northern Asiatic Hussia and Siberia. 



Salvadori says that it '" straggles into the Western Pala'arctic Region 

 (Italy and France)." And, again, in Latham's ' General Synopsis of 

 Birds ■ (1780) I find the following under the heading of Anas fflocifans : — 

 "Taken in a decoy in Enoland. Has also been met with alono; the Lena 

 and about the lake Baikal. Has a sinoular note somewhat like clucUinii-.'' 



Within Indian limits its occurrence has been of the rarest, and can 

 be counted on one^s fingers. Blytli got a male in the Calcutta bazaar. 

 Col. McMaster says that he belieyed that he got what was a specimen 

 of this species in the Upper Sircars. Mr. E. James had a painting of 

 the head of a Teal, said to have been shot in Sind, which was undoubtedly — 

 the painting — that of this species. In November, 1879, Mr. Chill got a 

 male Clucking Teal about 30 miles south of Delhi : this he preserved 

 and sent to Hume. Thus up to Hume's time the records of its actual 

 occurrence are but two in number and of its possible occurrence but 

 two more. 



On the IGth December, 1898, Mr. E. L. Barton, of Bombay, shot a 

 male Clucking Teal about 20 miles from Ahmedabad, in Guzerat, and the- 

 skin is now in the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society. 



The only record since this is that of one shot by Col. Row, 8th Goorkhas, 

 in the Dibrugarh district of Assam. 



Information of this duck's habits is meagre in the extreme and I can 

 find practically nothing of interest. 



Its flight is said to be swift and teal-like, l)ut instead of, like the 

 Common Teal, flying at great heights when on migration, they fly low 

 and close to the surface of the country. This habit of flight, how<'ver, 

 is probably only a distinctive feature as the Clucking Teal approach their 

 destination, for Prjevalsky writes : - When migrating these ducks fly verv 

 low, following the plains which abound with lakes, and as soon as one is 

 perceived which is not frozen they at once settle down on it.'' 



Most noticeable of all their characteristics is their voice. Thev are» 



