274 INDIAN DTTCKS. 



Swimming about undisturbed and with no particular object in view, they 

 float with about one-third to half their bodies exposed, but they can sink 

 themselves at will, and Hume says that, especially when swimming against 

 stream, they sink very deep, as do Cormorants, and that when tcounded 

 and pursued they never show more than their heads and necks out of 

 water. This is so, and I saw it repeatedly in the Subansiri and other 

 rivers o£ Assam; but this mode of swimming did not seem to be resorted 

 to unless the birds tvei'e wounded or frightened. 



As a rule, all over their wide habitat, it is more common to meet the 

 Goosander in quite small flocks of a dozen or so, or varying from half a 

 dozen to a couple of dozen, whilst single birds and pairs are often seen. 

 Sometimes, however, they go in far larger flocks. Cripps writes : " In 

 the Western Dooars I have seen numbers of the species in flocks of from 

 fifty to two hundred.^' One or two other authors have noted large flocks, 

 but, except Cripps, all Indian observers seem to concur in considering 

 very small flocks to be the rule in India. On the Irrawaddy, Oates speaks 

 of meeting them in small parties numbering six or fewer individuals. A 

 note sent me by Mr. S., of the Civil Service, from Darbhanga, mentions 

 only seeing comparatively small flocks. My own experience has shown 

 that about a dozen birds are most often found in a flock, but that they 

 join forces during the morning and evening flighting, when flocks of forty 

 to sixty are common, and, as I have mentioned above, sometimes as many 

 as two hundred may be seen in one flight. 



The food of the Groosander is as purely an animal diet as that of any 

 duck in existence, and the greater portion of it consists of fish, in the 

 diving after which it is wonderfully expert. Very often flocks work in 

 concert In their fishing ; sometimes they will gradually work the fish into 

 some narrow inlet, and when they have got them fairly driven into it, 

 will almost exterminate a shoal before the surviving members of it break 

 through the living cordon of greedy birds and make good their escape. 



Ball says : " In the Subanrika they may be seen in parties swimming 

 against the stream, and all diving together apparently to catch fish. The 

 sudden disappearance of the whole flock at the same moment gives the 

 idea that they work in concert in hunting the fish which are coming down 

 with the stream. Their flight is very ra})id." 



The same mode of fishing has been reported to me by many other 

 observers, and has also come under my own observation on several rivers. 



They are most voracious birds and do a great deal of damage in fishing 

 rivers. Mr. E. T. Booth, in ' Rough Notes,' writes : " Goosanders are 



