DENDROCYGNA JAYANICA. 
1071 
in September and October. It is found on Kotte and Kaesbawa lakes occasionally, and large flocks are to 
be seen at the latter end of the year on the upper or freshwater part of the Bolgodde Lake. At the lower end 
of the Batticaloa Lake it is also abundant at certain times. 
This species is very abundant in parts of India, extending into Burmab, Tenasserim (where it is common; , 
and Malacca, and thence southward to Java, whence it was first procured and described by Horsfield. It is 
likewise abundant at the Ni cobars ; but in the Andamans it has only recently been procured. In regard to 
India, I find that it is plentiful in parts of the Deccan, chiefly about wooded districts in the rams and cold 
weather [Davidson) ; found throughout Chota Nagpur, and recorded especially in that district from the 
Young of the year resemble the female ; the scapulars are brownish, mottled with rufescent, and the wing-coverts, 
more especially the greater series, are tinged and tipped with brownish. 
A male (so labelled) from Calcutta, dated December, has no ring round the neck; the wing-coverts show no signs 
of immaturity ; but it is probably a bird of the year. 
Distribution. — In accordance with the rule adopted in this work, I place this species in a footnote, specimens never 
having been actually procured and preserved ; but I have little doubt of its occurrence in the island, for an account of 
which I am indebted to Capt. Wade- Dalton, of the 57th Regiment, who is well acquainted with the bird. He met 
with a pair in Eebruary 1876 in the long lagoon which runs inland from Mullaittivu, and writes to me as follows : 1 
saw them sitting at the edge of the water, and stalked and shot at them with an 8-bore belonging to a friend ; but, 
thanks to the bad powder in the cartridges, I failed to bag either.” As it is, according to J erdon, a cold-weather visitant 
to all parts of India, there is no reason why it should not unfrequently stray down to Ceylon. It is common in the 
Deccan, and is said to remain there until May, the end of the hot weather [Davidson). It is very abundant in Sindh, 
and breeds on the Upper Indus in May (Hume). To the valley of Nepal it is a winter visitor, but leaves in December 
(Scully). It is found in Kashgaria up to an elevation of 10,000 feet, and extends into Mongolia, where it is common 
and held sacred by the inhabitants (Prjevalslcy). It is not uncommon in Persia, ranging as far north as lat. 50 , and 
eastwards to the Baikal region, and thence to Japan. On inland waters in China it is not unfrequent ; but it is rare on 
the coasts It winters in Palestine, and also breeds there occasionally. In Europe it chiefly inhabits the south (though 
rare in Italy) breeding in Spain and Southern Russia. It is a straggler to Northern Europe as high up as Sweden 
( Nilsson), and strays still northward into Knland. To Great Britain it is a rare straggler. It inhabits Northern Africa, 
occurring in Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, breeding in the latter country; and it is said to extend southwards as far as 
the Blue Nile. 
Halits. This Sheldrake is met with usually in pairs or small troops of half a dozen or more, but is said in India 
before migrating to assemble in thousands. It is a very well-known bird m that country, being universally called the 
“ Brahminy Duck.” “ The Hindoos,” writes Jerdon, “ have a legend that two lovers for some indiscretion were trans- 
formed into Brahminy Ducks, that they are condemned to pass the night apart from one another on opposite banks 
of the river and that all night long each in its turn asks its mate if it shall come across ; but the question is always met in 
the negative— ‘Chakwa, shall I come?’ ‘No, Chakwi.’ ‘Chakwi, shall I come?’ ‘No, Chakwa.”’ Its note as heard by 
me in confinement is a low guttural kape, kape, kape , and sometimes Tea, ka, ka, Tchap, quickly repeated. It walks well, 
with the same action as the true Geese, aud is said to graze, like these birds, in corn-fields. It has been said by a writer 
in the ‘ Indian Sporting Review ’ to devour carrion in company with Y ultures ; but J erdon states that he was constantly 
on the watch to verify this observation, “ but never saw any thing approaching to such a habit.’ 
Nidijication. — This handsome bird does not seem to be particular as to the site which it chooses for its nest, so long 
as it appears to afford it the necessary cover. It nests in hollow trees, hollow logs, clefts of rocks, or caves, in which 
latter locality Canon Tristram found a nest among those of some Griffon-Vultures ; and in Mongolia, where it is never 
molested besides resorting to holes and clefts in the ground, it sometimes lays in the “ fireplaces of villages deserted by 
the Mongols,” in which, writes Col. Prjevalsky, “ the females, whilst hatching, get almost quite black with soot.” This 
author says that though the male does not assist in incubating, as soon as the young are hatched he is most vigilant m 
watching ‘them. The breeding-time of this species, both in Asia and Europe, is in May and June. The eggs are oval and 
of a pale cream-colour, not to be distinguished from those of the Common Sheldrake. These latter are ovals, somewhat 
stumpy at one end, smooth, and rather glossy in texture. Specimens before me measure 2-o9 by 1-88 and 2'09 by P91 
inches. 
