THE COTTON TEAL, TO§ 
Tickell remarks :— 
“In large sheltered sheets of water they seldom shift their 
quarters, but pass the time frolicking about the clear spaces 
between the beds of the water lily and other aquatic weeds, or 
taking their insect food from the floating leaves, at night resting 
securely amid the tangle and coarse herbage matting over the 
centre of the pool. When off their feed these birds are at times 
very frolicksome, flying rapidly round and round the pond, the 
male making a singular drumming, quacking, which has been 
correctly enough compared to the words “ Fix baggonets! fix 
baggonets !” and has gained the. bird that familiar cognomen 
amongst our soldiers in India. The Koles and Oorias have 
named it from its cry, “Lerreget-perreget,’ also “ Merom-derebet,” 
the word “merom” amongst the Koles meaning goat, the bleat 
of which animal is not unlike the voice of this Goslet. 
“When fired at, the Girras, after a circle or two round the tank 
or pond, will frequently alight again, and allow of a second or 
even a third shot. If the sheet of water be broad, they will 
then usually settle in the middle, and there remain out of range, 
in spite of yells and shouts, and splashing with sticks, and pelt- 
ing with stones—devices to which, with the aid of the neigh- 
bouring villagers, the young sportsman must have recourse, 
unless a canoe be procurable, in which to invade the birds in their 
fastnesses. If the water be not capacious enough for the Girras 
to settle out of shot, they will fly off to a neighbouring pond, 
but never toa great distance. Their flight is exceedingly swift, 
but low, just clearing the tops of the trees or skimming over 
the surface of the water, and they afford very pretty practice at 
single shots as they come, sweeping over a bank or a mango 
grove, to alight on the pond where the gunner has taken his 
stand. 
“This pretty little miniature Goose—or, as Jerdon terms it, 
Goslet—from its comparative tameness and numbers, is amongst 
the first objects to attract the notice of the young sportsman 
anxious to try his hand at “ Duck-shooting.” But it is also, 
alas! the not unfrequent innocent cause of death to its too 
ardent pursuers. There have been too many instances of soldiers 
and other Europeans, especially amongst new arrivals, who have 
been miserably drowned in swimming far into tanks and jhils 
to pick up the bodies of these birds which they have just shot. 
The pond appears so small, the water so clear, the little Duck 
with its plump white breast floating upwards so tempting—so 
in goes a stout young fellow, and in a dozen strokes is up with 
his prize, when the deadly weeds, which he had not seen from 
the bank, but which in such spots spread like a net some two 
or three feet beneath the surface, lap round his legs and close 
upon him in a gentle but irresistible embrace. In vain to kick 
and plunge ; each effort involves the swimmer more. In vain to 
cry for help, with none but one or two timid or apathetic natives 
O 
