6 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIDTY. 
not the more tropical Bronze-winged Jacana. Amongst Gallinulinc 
the Purple and Bald Coots are abundant, the latter especially occur- 
ring locally in flocks of many hundred birds. The Watercock 
(Gallierex), unknown in our Peninsular provinces, isfound here. I 
do not know whether it breeds, but this is likely. The aterhen 
and Crakes are numerous, but not peculiar, except Porzana minuta, 
an outlier from the Upper Asian region. 
Passing on to the swimming birds proper, the sub-tropical charac- 
ter of the Avifauna becomes still more marked. Swans, probably 
Cygnus olor, have been seenand shot. The Flamin gois common, going 
somewhere north to breed in June, and returning in September. 
The Grey Lag Goose is locally abundant in winter, and the Barred- 
headed Goose, Anser indicus, not much less so; and Anser albifrons, 
a decidedly Palearctic bird, occurs. The tropical Black-backed 
Goose is only found as a straggler, The Small Whistling Teal, 
however, abounds and breeds, and is commonly known by the 
quaint name of “ Inundation Duck,” as if it were a distinction 
amongst ducks to thrive upon inundations. I doubt whether the 
larger and less common Great, Whistling Teal, Dendrocygna fulva, 
breeds here. The Brahminy Duck or Ruddy Sheldrake is common 
enough, but not resident; the true Sheldrake, a sub~arctic bird, is 
an uncommon cold-weather visitor. It has, I think, no breeding 
places in any climate warmer than that of England. 
The first and most important true duck is the typical and essen~ 
tially northern Mallard, which abounds in the cold weather. With 
it come the Shoveller,Gadwall, Pintail,and Widgeon, the Red-headed, 
Red-crested, White-eyed, and Tufted Pochards, all in great num- 
bers. The sub-tropical Marbled Teal, rare in Gujarat and unknown 
almost in the rest of this Presidency, is a common cold weather 
visitor here. Its nearest relatives are not the teals, but the gadwalls. 
The Spot-billed Duck is a resident, the Golden Hye and Scaup 
are rare cold weather visitors, so are the Red-breasted Merganser, 
the Googander, andthe Smew. The Tropic birds and a Gannet 
(our old friend Sula cyanops) occur on the coast, but cannot be said 
to frequent it. 
The White Pelicans, more or less, are cold weather visitors, and 
the Grey Pelican is a resident, all occurring in considerable num- 
bers (allowing for the great size and voracity of these birds), | 
They are tamed, or rather confined, by the fishermen of the 
Indus, who eat them and make oil of their fat. 
