184 INDIAN DICKS. 



far more easily than at other ducks, and it is true that the y do bring in more 

 Pintails in proportion than ihey do Gadwalls, Teal, (fee. ; at the same time 

 I have personally found them to be the hardest to get at of all the ducks, 

 and such of my friends as have given me their experience have found the 

 same. 



In the daytime they frequent large lakes and jlieels and rest in the 

 centre of wide, comparatively open pieces of water, shunning such as have 

 thick cover of reeds or similar heavy jungle, yet resorting always to those 

 which have the surface covered with lilies and the smaller water-i)lants, 

 amongst which they can lie well concealed, yet able to discern at once the 

 approach of anything to their vicinity. During the night — they do not 

 leave their quarters until very late — they visit the smaller jlieels and tanks, 

 the rushy banks of the nullahs and canals, and similar places, where they 

 feed, but the first glimmer of dawn finds them on the wing once more 

 e?i route to the larger waters. Big rivers they do not seem to like ; all 

 down the Surma Valley the Pintail is very common, but though found in 

 numbers on the vast expanses of water quite close to the Barak, Surma, 

 Megna, &c., and often seen evening and morning crossing the river high 

 up out of range, yet I have never heard of their haunting any of these 

 rivers. 



In the same way I believe they are practically non-existent on the 

 Ganges, Indus, and other large rivers. Small rivers, if of clear and quick- 

 running waters, are no more pleasing to the Pintail ; but small creeks of 

 almost still water, canals which have vegetation about them, are visited 

 for the purpose of food and occasionally a flock may be put up from such 

 places in the daytime. 



Their food seems mainly to consist of small and fragile shell-fish, but 

 they also eat a large variety of other animal matter, and also are to a 

 certain extent vegetarians. Unlike, however, the majority of the ducks, 

 which are more animal than vegetable feeders, the Pintail is amongst the 

 very best of birds for the table. Sometimes, it is said, it becomes rank, 

 fishy, and almost uneatable, but as a rule it is excellent and nearly 

 always good. 



Many others must have noted the peculiarity of the Pintail to which 

 Hume alludes. He writes : — " It is worth noting, because it is a 

 peculiarity almost confined to this species, that during the cold season one 

 continually comes across large flocks consisting entirely of males. I cannot 

 say that I have ever noticed similar flocks of females ; but this may be because 

 the females do not attract the eye similarly, and are not equally readily 



