124 THE RUDDY SHELLDRAKE OR BRAHMINY DUCK. 
Ruddy Shelldrake is more or less common in all suitable 
localities. Naturally, however, in desert, riverless country like 
so much of Rajputana, they are seldom seen,* and in certain 
similar tracts in Sind, and again in Cutch and Kathidwar, they 
are rare. 
In Cachar too, according to Mr. Inglis, they are rather rare, 
but throughout the Assam Valley and in Munipur+ they are 
very common and so they seem to be in Mymensing and 
Chittagong, so that their alleged scarcity in Cachar is rather 
unaccountable. 
They are not confined to the plains, but are to be met with 
equally in the earlier and later parts of the cold season, (they 
are scarcer in mid-winter,) throughout the lower outer ranges 
of the Himalayas, in the lakes of the Kashmir, the Kullu and 
Sutlej Valleys—indeed in the valleys of all our larger Himalayan 
rivers, the valley of Nepal, and generally up to elevations of six 
or seven thousand feet, while in the summer they are found 
breeding at elevations of 12,000 feet and upwards, in the valleys 
of the Indus and Shyok, at the Tso-mourari, Tso-khar, Pangong, 
and other lakes, and again in the higher Sikhim ranges,} &c. 
“Outside our limits, I do not think that they extend to any 
part of the Malay Peninsula, nor have they been recorded 
from Siam, though they must needs occur in the northern 
portions, at any rate, of that kingdom ; but they are common in 
Independent Burma, and Anderson records finding them in the 
Sanda valley and on the sandbanks of the Taipeng River. 
This species appears to be common in winter on inland waters 
pretty well throughout China, and extends to Japan where some 
* Its non-occurrence in Arabia (if that dea fact) while occurring in India, Persia, 
Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt, may be due to this same cause. 
+ My late lamented friend, Mr. Damant, sent me the following interesting note about 
this species :—‘‘ The Brahminy occurs generally throughout Lower Bengal and Assam, 
and it is very common in Manipur. In the day time it is generally found on sand- 
banks in the larger rivers ; it goes cut early in the morning to feed in the rice fields, 
and is then sometimes found in small flocks, rarely, however, numbering more than 
twenty birds. It is hardly worth shooting as it is very fishy in taste. 
‘<The great resort of all Water Fowl in Manipur is the Logtak Lake, a large sheet 
of water lying some twenty miles to the south of the capital. In the cold weather 
this is about seven miles in length by three or four in width. A leading feature of 
this lake is the floating islands with which it is studded ; they are composed of masses 
of vegetation so densely matted together that in some instances fisherman’s huts 
have been built on them, They drift about the lake, and form excellent hiding places 
for birds. 
*‘In the cold weather this lake is literally covered with Wild Fowl, their numbers 
far exceeding any thing I have seen elsewhere. I have killed the following species 
there:—Grey Lag and Barred-headed Geese, Cotton and Whistling Teal, Brahminy 
Duck (which are very numerous), Shoveller, Grey Duck, Gadwall, Pintail Duck, 
Common and blue Winged Teal, Red-headed Pochard and Tufted Duck, and I have 
seen the Pink-headed Duck. 
“*Of these the Cotton and Whistling Teal and Grey Duck breed in large numbers, 
the remainder (except perhaps the Pink-headed Duck) are migrants, appearing 
generally about the end of October and going away about the end of March.” 
+ Where Hooker observed it and Blandford also says :— 
*‘ A pair were seen on the lake Bidan, near the Jelep-lain the Chola Range, 
and one was shot by Capt. Elwes,” 
