THE MALLARD. 153 
majority of those that visit the northern portions of Oudh and 
the North-West Provinces come from Yarkand. 
TO THE greater portion of its range, within our limits, the 
Mallard is a cold weather migrant, appearing towards the close 
of October ; but in the submontane districts of the Punjab, 
Oudh, and the North-West Provinces, individuals are often seen 
much earlier, so much so as to awaken a suspicion that some 
few may breed near the bases of, as well as in, the Himalayas. 
I have known adults to be shot near Rawul Pindee, Sialkot, 
and in the Dun in August, and a recent correspondent to 
the Aszan says :— 
“ A pair of Mallard, (Azas boscas, Lin.) were seen by me on the 
29th of July, in a large jhil in the Fyzabad district, and 
numbers of the same during the past month (August).” 
Similarly, although they leave the greater portion of the plains 
before the 15th of April, and the moré southern parts (Etawah 
for instance or Sindh) as a rule by the end of March, I have 
known of several pairs being seen near Attock as late as the 2nd 
of May. 
In India, even in the far North-West and in Sindh, where 
many hundreds may be met with in a day, the Mallard is rarely 
seen in large flocks, and is almost invariably in small knots of 
three to ten in number, or towards the close of the season in 
pairs. In the North-West Provinces they are usually met 
with in the larger jhils and broads, but in the Punjab and 
Sindh they are equally common on the larger rivers and inland 
waters. 
With us they feed chiefly by night, often changing their 
ground for this purpose about dusk, though not with the regu- 
larity observable in the case of wild fowl at home, while 
during the day, at any rate between I0 A.M. and 3 P.M., they 
are, if undisturbed, almcst always asleep. On our rivers, you 
find the party pretty close together, but not huddled into a 
lump like some other species, snoozing on the bank at the 
water’s edge, while in broads you find them floating motionless 
in some secluded nook of pellucid water screened in by 
bulrushes and reeds, and often overhung by tamarisk or other 
trees. 
Compared with many other species they are tame and 
unsuspicious, or perhaps I should say, unwary. With the most 
ordinary precautions you may always, (where they are not much 
worried), make sure of some out of every party that you meet 
with. To quote what I said of this species many years ago :— 
“In the North-Western Provinces, compared with other ducks, 
the Mallard is scarce, and so it is in the Punjab Cis-Satlej ; 
but, as you proceed further west, its numbers increase, and 
all down the Jhelum and the Chenab, from Jhelum to Mooltan, 
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