GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 363 



Lake Baikal and the valley of the Amoor. It apparently breeds in 

 Japan, and is a regular summer visitor to Mongolia, but to China, 

 Burma, and India it is only known as a migrant in autumn and 

 winter. 



Allied Forms. — None of sufficient propinquity to call for 

 notice. 



Time during which the Ruddy Sheldrake may be 

 taken. — August I St to March ist. 



Habits. — The range of the Ruddy Sheldrake in Europe does 

 not extend sufficiently far north to render the bird a migratory 

 one, but in Asia, where the climate is much colder in winter, and 

 where the limits of its distribution extend slightly higher, this 

 Duck is a bird of regular passage. Hume states that it winters 

 in India in countless myriads. It begins to arrive in Cashmere 

 and on the southern slopes of the Himalayas at the end of 

 September, which agrees with the date of its departure from 

 South Siberia about the middle of September. By the end of 

 October it is generally dispersed over Northern India, and 

 during November it reaches the southern districts. It leaves the 

 south towards the end of March, the north a little later, and 

 reaches its breeding grounds in Siberia again towards the end of 

 April. The Ruddy Sheldrake migrates in enormous flocks, 

 but these soon separate, and distribute themselves in scattered 

 pairs throughout the country. In spring it again unites into 

 flocks, and is then more frequently seen on lakes than at any 

 other time of its stay in India. These gatherings disperse at the 

 breeding grounds. The Ruddy Sheldrake is a fresh-water Duck, 

 and a shore bird rather than a water one, spending most of its 

 time on or near the bank. In India its favourite haunts are the 

 broad rivers where sandbanks break the stream into numerous 

 channels, but the bird occasionally visits fields and flooded 

 grounds at some distance from its usual retreats. It not only 

 swims well, but often dives when wounded, and on the ground 

 walks with a rather graceful, sedate step in a very erect manner. 

 The flight of this species is easy and quick when once the bird 

 is fairly on the wing, but it rises in a laboured manner and with 

 apparent difficulty. The wings are flapped slowly rather than 

 beaten rapidly. The food of the Ruddy Sheldrake consists of both 



