170 INDIAN' DUCKti. 



think, refers in this paragraph mainly to Nortli-(\istern and Central India, 

 and it woukl therefore really seem as if the Common T(>al were earlier in 

 Northern Benoal than in those parts, reversino- what is the usual rule with 

 most, if not all, other migratory ducks. By this I do not mean to say that 

 the Teal are all with us by Septeml)er, even in the northern parts of Assam, 

 but I do mean to say that by the nnddle of that month they are quite connnon 

 in many })arts and in some are fairly numerous by the second week. 



It is possible, indeed probable, that our eastern birds are those which 

 come from China; and as they breed there as far south at least as the 

 40th degree latitude, they haye not nearly so far to come as those which 

 travel from the west, few of whom really come from further south than 

 about the oOth degree. 



Teal are extremely varialde in the lunnbers in which they collect. Often 

 they may be seen singly or in ])airs, and at the same placte flocks may l)c 

 seen numl)ering their hundreds, even thousantls. The largest flocks aj)pear 

 to be met with in 8ind and the north of the Nortli-West Provinces and the 

 Pimjab, and perha})s Northern l{ajj)utana. In these places they are to be 

 seen literally in flocks of many hundreds, and frequently of thousands. On 

 the Sunderbunds I think I have seen as many as five hundred in a flock ; 

 in the famous Chilka Lake I have been told of their rising in vast flocks 

 which must have been nearlv a thousand strong, and from other jtarts of 

 India reports are given of flocks numbering hundreds. 



The most common-sized flock all over their range may be somewhere 

 between twenty and forty, and in Southern India — /. e., from Mysore to 

 Ceylon — anything over the latter number is rare, though even in the islam I 

 Mr. G. Simpson, as quoted by Legge, says : "In the island of Delft and at 

 the Palverainkadoo lagoon, on the north-west coast, it appears yearly in 

 thousands in November, leaving at the end of February."^ 



The Common Teal is one of the most attractive of th(> duck tribe to the 

 sportsman, ])otli from its being so numerous and from it habits. Altbougli 

 mainly a night feeder, yet in places where its food-supply lies in the flooded 

 rice-fields and the edges of swamps, l)hils, <tc., it will continue to feed for 

 an hour or so after daylight, and even when it has finished feeding it 

 remains in amongst the weeds, reeds, and other cover near the shores. It 

 thus affords excellent sport, whether with a dog or two, or a few beaters, 

 or from some small dug-out poled quietly along by a single man in the 

 stern. The Teal often lay close enough to allow of constant shots at from 

 25 to -lO yards, and as they often scatter a good deal, even when resting, 

 two or three shots mav be obtained at the same flock. In this way, on 



