NETTA RUFINA. 213 



stomacli I noted -wliilst shooting in Jessorp and Kluilna ; but all wo shot 

 and tried to eat tasted the same, and I have no doubt that they, too, had 

 been feeding on cral)s. 



In Cachar and Sylhet I found the Red-crested Pochard one of the 

 very best of ducks for the table, and the same held good in the Dibrugarh 

 and adjoining districts of Assam. 



Tliey are strong flyers and go at a good pace, but they are very slow in 

 getting off the water and take some time to get tlieir pace up. 



Finn says that their note is a harsh croak sounding like '' Kurr." 

 This is the same syllable used by Hume to represent their note, he calling 

 their note a "deep grating kurr."' He also adds: "Occasionally the 

 males only, I think, emit a sharp sibilant note — a sort of ^vhistle, quite 

 different from that of the AVigeon, and yet somewhat reminding one of 

 that." 



From a sporting point of view, the Red-crested Pochard is all that can 

 be desired. About as smart as they make them, he seems to have special 

 aptitude for judging the length of range of different guns ; and a tiock 

 may be caught once, but seldom twice, whatever distance the gun may 

 reach. 



They swim so fast that they can by this means alone generally escape, 

 and they are often very loath to rise when they can thus get out of shot. 

 Their swimming powers, manner of packing, and capacitude for diving are 

 so well shown by Hume^s account of his shooting in the Etawah District 

 that yet again I indent on him wholesale : — '' All night long .... I had 

 heard water-fowl coming in, and the next morning, before dawn, I Mas 

 out in my punt, working softly round the margin to the western side, so 

 as to have the fowl, wdien twilight broke, against the daylight sky. I soon 

 made out by tlieir cries that the mass of the fowls were Pochards, that 

 there were a vast number of them, and that a great number of them 

 belonged to the present species. Day dawned, and I could soon see a 



dense mass of fowl .... probably fully a quarter of a mile off 



Lying down I paddled towards them. Very soon a fresh north-west wind 

 sprang up against me. Quite a sea rose. I was perpetually grounding, 

 and they were swimming awav steadily against the wind, so that it was 

 ])right sunlight before I got within two hundred yards, and then I could 

 .see they were all Red-crests. I had now got into deeper water, and went 

 as hard as I could without splashing ; but they swam steadily away, and I 

 must have gone fully half a mile before I had gained one hundred yards 

 on them. Still tliev liad not shown the slightest signs of suspicion (and I 



