204 INDIAN UTTKS. 



several times again about Delhi, and more than once also in the ( iileiitta 

 market, but nothing has been recorded, that I can find, which in v,uy way 

 extends the original area as given l)y Hume. A sjx'cimen lent inc I'loin 

 the Bom. Nat. Hist. Society's collection has no locality given on its 

 ticket, but was presumably collected in one of the places above mentiont»d. 



I should note that when showing this specimen to a friend, he at once 

 said that he had shot two birds ot" the same kind in (xowhatty, Assam : 

 he said that neither he nor any of the men to whom he showed them had 

 ever seen the duck before and could not name it. He was very sure of its 

 being the same species. 



In its arrival it a])pearsto be later than most tlucks, even in its extreme 

 north-west point of entry ; it does not appear to be seen in any numbers 

 until late in October or early November, and as it works south i\nd east 

 it, of course, gets later and later. Its (le})arture would, on the other hand, 

 seem to take place at much the same time as that of other birds of its 

 order, i. e. m April, a few remaining initil the last few days of May in very 

 late years. 



Little has been added to our knowledge of the lial)its of this Teal since 

 Hume wrote concerning it as follows : — 



" In Sind, where I had abundant opportunity of ol)serving it, I found 

 the Marbled Teal invariably associatetl in large parties. Its favourite 

 haunts were broads, thickly grown with rush, in which it fed and s|)orted, 

 comparatively seldom showing itself in the ojx'ii water. As a rule, it does 

 not at once rise when guns are fired, as the other ducks do, but if by 

 chance it is at the moment outside of the rushes or similar cover in the 

 open water it scuttles into concealment as a coot would do, and if in cover 

 already, remains there perfectly quiet until the boats push within GO or 70 

 yards of it ; then it rises, generally one at a time, and, even though fired at, 

 not unfrequently again drops into the rushes within a couple of hundred 

 yards. When there has been a good deal of shooting on a lake and almost 

 all the other duck, and with them, of course, ,wme of these, are circling 

 round and round, high in the air, you still keep, as you push through the 

 reeds and rushes, continually Hushing the Marbled Teal, and the l)road 

 must be small, or the hunting very close and long continued, to induce all 

 the Marbled Teal to take wing. Of course, where there is a little cover 

 (tliouoh there you never meet with this duck in large numbers) they rise 

 and fly al^out with the other ducks, but their tendency in these respects is 

 rather coot-like than duck-like. Individuals may take wing at the first 

 near shot, but the great majority of them stick to cover as long as this is 



