104 INDIAN DtTCKs. 



occasion, whether there wa.s water in abundance or not, have T ever known 

 Garganey remain to have more than a right and left tired at them. 



They are "sery silent birds as a rule. Hume sjx-aks of them chattering, 

 like all other ducks in confinement, on the slightest provocation, but their 

 ordinary note, a loud strident quack, is very seldom used when the l)irds 

 are in a state of nature. Scel)ohm considers their voice to be " not quite 

 so loud as a Mallard, but is in a slightly higher key; it may be rej)resented 

 by the syllable Kinde. It is generally uttered singly, but sometimes 

 repeated twice. The quack is common to both sexes, but in the breeding- 

 season the male utters a harsh grating note resembling kr-r-r.'^ 



The food of the Garganey is both vegetarian an<l animal, and it subsists 

 much on surface buds of water-}»lants, and shoots of such as run along the 

 surface of the water. It, however, also eats water-insects, worms, and 

 similar food. 



As regards the breeding of the Garganey within Indian limits, there is 

 practically no evidence of any value. 



Colonel Irby told Hume that when in Oudh he caught some young 

 half-fledged in the month of Sejitember. This shows, of course, that once 

 upon a time a pair of Teals did i-emain in India and bi-ed. but it does not 

 at all show that Teals ever stay of their own accord to breed. This unfor- 

 tunate pair had very likely Ijeen slightly damaged by shot or accident, 

 and so were unable to take the exertion of migration ; and this, doubtless, 

 is the reason for the manv Teal stavin<>; in Hulia, and bein<>- seen in various 

 months, when they should have l)een tar away and breeding in othei* 

 climates and countries. They have been seen in practically every month 

 in the year, and such records are many ; but, as I have said elsewhere, 

 every year millions are killed, and it would be strange indeed if a few did 

 not get injuries from which they recovered, yet not sufficiently soon to 

 allow of their mioratinii'. 



Colonel Tickell wrote from Moiilmein mentioning a young bird just 

 fledged which had been caught on a small pond in the vicinity. This may 

 have been a young bird, backward and rather weak, and consequently so 

 exhausted with its long journey as to be caught and produced as a 

 specimen locally bred, or it may have been one bred under the circum- 

 stances already suggested. 



Blyth wrote, in reference to this statement of Tickell's : '' The 

 Garganey breeds sparingly, no doubt, in India, as well as in Burmah and 

 Tenasserim ""^ ; but from what this deduction was made I cannot tell, nor 

 can I find any perfectly authentic records of the Garganey breeding in 



