THE RUDDY SHELLDRAKE OR BRAHMINY DUCK. 131 
ones, and even if they ever do lay 16 eggs, Iam quite sure that 
they very seldom here hatch off this number. 
In the account of the first Yarkand Mission we say, that “ this 
species was first noticed at the hot springs above Gokra, at an 
elevation of 16,000 feet. Then they were seen on small lakes 
that are dotted about on the Salt Plain and all along the 
Karakash River. The young were at that time—July—scarcely 
able to fly; when approached, the mother made them all dive 
by swimming and flapping on to each of them as soon as it 
showed itself above water. The mother also pretended to be 
wounded, and lay on the water every now and then with wings 
spread out as if unable to fly. All along the Karakash Valley, 
and also on the high table-land, wherever there was water over- 
hung by cliffs, there numbers of Brahminy Ducks with broods 
of young ones were seen, and holes in these cliffs plastered over 
with droppings were pointed out by the Kirghiz as the places 
in which they had bred.” 
Mr. F. R. Mallet remarks 27 efzstold :-—“ As to the Brahminy 
Ducks, I first observed them in Tibet north of the Niti Pass, at 
an elevation of about 14,000 feet, on a shallow stagnant pond. 
There were the old pair and eight young ones unable to fly. I 
bagged all the latter, but the old parties did not see the fun of 
it at ail and kept out of range. This year I first saw a solitary 
one in Spiti on a small shallow pond at about 13,000 feet. 
“In neither of these cases was there much vegetation ; in 
fact, almost none. Afterwards we saw perhaps two dozen old 
and young in the streams flowing into the /zdus in Ladakh. 
These streams are rapid but smooth, and bordered by coarse 
grassy plains ; from a mile to two miles wide, marshy near the 
middle. They contain plenty of small fish, andthe Ducks I 
shot near the Niti had a very fishy taste. 
“ These streams are about 14,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea, 
and there were lots of Geese on one of them. 
“TI never saw ‘ Brahminies’ on the rough streams and torrents, 
except orth of the first high ranges of the Himalayas, at eleva- 
tions of 13,000 to 15,000 feet. 
“They are not found in summer in the outer high ranges of 
the Himalayas themselves, but in Tibet, Ladakh, &c.” 
At the Tso-mourari, the cliffs in which they breed, are far 
from the water ; yet the tiniest ducklings are to be seen swim- 
ming about in the lake. Tristram notices the same thing in 
the Eastern Altas. “At Bow Guizdem,” he says, “I captured 
some half dozen nestlings of various ages in the downy 
state, some of them scarcely more than a day old, and yet the 
only place where they could possibly have bred, and where we 
had procured a nest three days previously, was a range of cliffs 
more than twelve miles distant.” Of course the old birds carry 
the nestlings; but how? The Ladakhis say zz their feet, and 
this may be so, but it would seem more likely that they carried 
