72 SARCIDIORNIS MELANOTA 



GENERAL HABITS 



Haunts. The best accounts of the life-history of this species are to be found in 

 Hume and Marshall (1879) and Baker (1908), from which authors I must of neces- 

 sity quote freely. This bird is a tree-loving species, and prefers forested swamp 

 areas, not dense forest like the White-winged Wood Duck, but well-wooded, level, 

 and well-cultivated country. It does not like bare-edged sheets of water, and is 

 rarely seen on the larger rivers of India. It is seldom met in hilly ground, although it 

 has been found breeding at an elevation of two thousand feet, and probably nests 

 at even greater altitudes (Baker, 1908). It favors large mango trees. Tickell (quoted 

 by Hume and Marshall, 1879), however, found these birds in very different locali- 

 ties. In the Chota Nagpur region, it inhabited open, uncultivated, bushy country, 

 where it preferred clear water with gravelly or stone bottom, and not shallow muddy 

 jheels or marshes. 



Wariness. As a general thing this species is not exceptionally wary, and Hume 

 says they are not difficult to approach in a punt. According to Stark and Sclater 

 (1906) the birds are easy to approach in South Africa, especially when they have 

 perched. But in India, when in company with a pair or two of Ruddy Sheldrakes, 

 they are much more wild than usual (Hume and Marshall, 1879). Bohm (1885) 

 noted that in German East Africa the females were more shy and cautious than the 

 males, and states also that the males like to associate with Spur-winged Geese. 



Daily Movements. Observers differ as to whether they are diurnal or noc- 

 turnal in their habits. In East Africa, Bohm (1885) found them much more active 

 in the morning and evening, but Baker (1908), speaking of India, asserts that they 

 are not nocturnal or even crepuscular. Hume and Marshall (1879) also found them 

 feeding much more in the daytime than other ducks or geese. The birds are strictly 

 tree-loving and probably always roost on trees. 



Flight; Diving; Perching. With the exception of Legge (1880), who thought 

 them awkward and clumsy on the wing, they are considered powerful and rapid in 

 flight, rising faster and in general swimming and diving more actively than true 

 geese, such as the Bar-heads. But it is doubtful whether they really fly very fast 

 compared to northern water-fowl. On the water the bird sits high like a goose, with 

 stern raised, and the neck is carried in a curve, not straight like that of a swan 

 (Finn, 1915). Heinroth (1911) describes the flight as not very rapid, but steady and 

 regular, the tips of the wings being held very low. The gait, according to Legge 

 (1880), is ungainly, the bird, with its heavy-looking head and broad tail, lifting its 

 feet high and taking rather long strides, cutting anything but a graceful appearance. 



