THE WHISTLING TEAL. 
0 
Dendrocygna javanica, Horsfield. 
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Vernacular Names.—[Saral, Shareil, Zower Bengal; Soreil, MHarrili-hans, 
Eastern Bengal; Silli, Silhahi (Hindustani); Chihee, Ltawah ; Ade, Adla 
(Mahrathi) ; Yerra Chilluwa, (Telugu) ; Yerrundi (Malayalum), Quzlon, Travan- 
core ; Sisalee, Sessilli (Burmese), Peou, Zenasserim ; ‘Tingi, Munipur ; ] 
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A XCEPT the north-western portions of Rajputana 
BV and the Punjab, there is scarcely any suitable 
locality within the limits of the Empire, including 
Burma,* Ceylon, the Andamans, and Nicobars, in 
which the Whistling Teal does not occur, either as 
a permanent resident or a seasonal visitant. 
In many parts of the country it is almost entirely 
- the latter. Thus in Sind it is very rarely seen, except from 
the end of April to October. In the Deccan its occurrence is 
nearly confined to the rainy and cold seasons; in the drier 
portions of the North-Western Provinces it is ten times as 
numerous in the rains as it is between January and the 
commencement of the latter. 
Again Mr. Cripps says :—‘In the Faridpur District this 
species is a permanent resident, but in Dacca it is seen only 
during the rainy season in pairs and small parties. In the cold 
season large flocks of these birds are met with in the tract of 
swampy country which forms the central southern portion of the 
district of Sylhet; in some of these swamps, I have come 
across flocks numbering thousands, and although I have seen 
them in Faridpur in winter, when they go about in flocks 
of twenty and thirty, my opinion is that the greater number of 
the birds which scatter over Eastern Bengal during the mon- 
soon, retire to Sylhet in the cold weather.” 
I do not think it occurs, except perhaps as a straggler, in the 
Himalayas. It has not been recorded from Kashmir nor from 
Kullu, nor have I met with it in any part of the Himalayas west 
of Nepal. Hodgson includes it in his “ List of the Birds of Nepal,” 
and he seems to have obtained one specimen from the Residency 
stg) \\i% 
* We found it common throughout Tenasserim, and Mr. Oates writes that it is 
** very abundant all the year round in the swamps of Lower Pegu, though I have 
never observed it in the Engmah swamp where so many other kinds abound.” 
