LESSER WHISTLING TEAL 151 



idea of their confiding nature may be obtained by reading Hume's remarks as to their 

 living in trees growing inside the enclosures of cottages, or in some cases having been 

 stoned from the trees if a flying shot was desired. Several writers have described their 

 habit of circling round and round the pond when flushed, a practice which often 

 proves fatal to a large number. Baker (1908), however, was much surprised to find 

 them quite wary in the Sunderbunds. On those vast pieces of water in the delta of the 

 Ganges, they form flocks numbering thousands, which, dividing up into smaller 

 companies of two to three hundred, fly off to some other part of the swamp, with 

 only a preliminary wheel or two. 



Outside the limits of India they were found very tame in western Siam (Gairdner, 

 1914), but Kelham (1882), writing of the Straits region, says they are by no means 

 easy to stalk, even in places where a gun has never been fired. 



Daily Movements. The Common Whistling Duck is certainly less nocturnal 

 in its habits than are the other members of the genus. According to Hume they feed 

 almost exclusively during the day, chiefly in the early morning and evening, and 

 rest in trees during the middle of the day. The night they also spend roosting in 

 trees, but in river districts and in localities where they are more persecuted, it ap- 

 pears that they are nocturnal feeders like other Tree Ducks. Baker (1908) is of the 

 opinion that in any case they pass the middle of the night in the trees. It would 

 seem that in the Malay regions, the heat of the day finds them, not in trees, but on 

 jheels among thick reeds (Kelham, 1882). Doubtless their habits are quite different 

 according to the season, but intimate accounts of the life-history of this whole group 

 are lacking. 



Flight. Many observers have contrasted the rapid wing-beats of these birds with 

 their slow progression in the air. Baker (1908), speaking of the huge masses which 

 rose from a famous shooting ground in India, says he was greatly struck by the at- 

 titude of the birds, which reminded him of ancient prints on duck-shooting; the 

 birds with their long necks outstretched rising straight up to some height, until they 

 got fairly started, when they flew off parallel to the water, generally about thirty 

 or forty feet up. When on the wing the neck tends to droop, as in other Tree Ducks. 

 On the whole the bird is a slower flier than the Fulvous Tree Duck. 



A characteristic peculiar to this species is a projection on the inner web of the 

 outermost primary which Heinroth (1911) pictures, and describes as producing a 

 loud whistling sound during flight. It is remarkable that no observations made in 

 the field have brought out this peculiarity, but it may be that the loud voice obscures 

 this sound. 



Existing as it does, in enormous numbers, and being like other Tree Ducks, gre- 

 garious by nature, it is not surprising that huge flocks numbering thousands have 



