INDIAN PYGMY GOOSE or COTTON TEAL 111 



kept in Calcutta fed upon paddy (raw, unhusked rice) and canary seed as well as 

 on grass, cut fine, and maggots. His birds became very tame, even "cheeky," and 

 at times showed a bold front even to a Crow. One, which he turned out on a large 

 pond, lost its wildness so quickly that in a very few days it swam to him when he ap- 

 peared. These birds went through courting activities but apparently did not lay 

 any eggs, although Finn remarks that he thinks they would be easy to breed. Sanyal 

 (1892) says that none ever lived more than five months in the Calcutta Zoological 

 Gardens. 



The only individuals I know of that attained any considerable age lived in the 

 garden of Mr. Hubert D. Astley of Hereford, England. Mr. Astley wrote me that 

 he kept a pair for nine years, when the male was accidentally drowned in a piece of 

 wire and the female disappeared soon after. He found this species as hardy as other 

 water-fowl, and says the male displayed constantly in the spring, uttering his curious 

 call-note. They never dove, but reached their food by tipping up. 



