NETTA EUFINA. 211 



yet they are^ on the whole, rather late arrivals, coming into the North and 

 North-west India in the latter part of October, and into Bengal and further 

 south not until well into November. In Assam and Manipur, however, I 

 think they generally come in hy October, and I have seen a pair about the 

 10th of that month. 



In some parts of India they arrive in flocks of thousands ; Hume writes 

 in one place of " flocks of many thousands, and acres of water paved with 

 them " ; again, '' I rowed into a flock of this species, several thousands in 

 number." Reid also, after saying that though (in the Lucknow division) 

 he had come across them in small parties, as a rule, of a dozen or so, yet 

 " one morning in December I came across countless numbers on a jheel in 

 the Fyzabad district closely packed and covering the whole surface of the 

 water^ with their red heads moving independently, while the breeze kept 

 their crests in motion ; a distant spectator might have mistaken them for a 

 vast expanse of beautiful aquatic flowers." 



As a general thing, therefore, it would seem that the Red-crested 

 Pochard likes to congregate in very large flocks, and it is only when the 

 country is not very well suited to their wants that they split up into small 

 parties, and under these circumstances very small flocks and even pairs 

 and single birds may be sometimes seen. 



They are open-water birds by choice, frequenting large sheets of water, 

 unobstructed by surface weeds, reeds, or water-plants, except about the 

 shores or banks. Of course, where they are most common, a few birds 

 may be met with in almost any kind of water, but it is rare for any large 

 flock to be found on vegetation-covered swamps, small dirty jheels, &c. 



They are splendid swimmers, and regularly play about on the w^ater 

 with one another where undisturbed, and as divers they are even better 

 than as swimmers, though the White-eye may excel them in this respect. 



Legge says : " This handsome Pochard, though belonging to the family 

 of diving ducks, which are mainly characterized by their webbed or lobed 

 hind toes, is said b^f those who have observed its habits not to dive for its 

 food, but to feed, like ordinary ducks, in shallow water, with its neck 

 stretched down .ind body turned up." 



This, too, is what Dresser says, but would appear to be distinctly 

 contrary to what most observers have noted : what Hume records is what 

 most of us have taken to be the habits of this bird ; he writes thus after 

 quoting Dresser's remarks : " I should like to know where he obtained 

 this valuable information. The fact is, that though you mai/ at times see 

 it'dibbling about in the water like Teal and Shovellers, or again feeding as 



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