Smithsonian Institution Sibraries Alexander Wetmore 194 6 Szuth Secretary LO 4 DRIVEN DUCK. Garganey Tal. DRIVEN DUCK BY R. C. BOLSTER, L.C.8. (Joint Author of “ Cupid und Ca reridges,’’ “The Mau Who Paid,” etc., etc.). Illustrated by Photographs taken by the Author, aa > = ~ Use eee ro A. J-.O'G., My Shooting Partner. I’ve samples sport and work, and gall and wine, My years for pension near the twenty-one— Here’s to you, John! Did ever you repine, Of birds divided, were they yours or mine, The long years through? You're not that sort of Gun. So I revive by my fireside at Home Rich memories of the fields we used to roam, The snowy Spoonbills tack across the The Curlew tunes his melancholy pij We're out for Driven Duck. I see tl Teal Climb for your second barrel ; past us steal Godwits and flustered Stilts, or, may be, Snipe, And, mark! a soaring Pintall (bless him) runs The fiery gauntlet of the waiting guns, Again the Geese sweep landwards from the shore ; Together on the Indus bank we walk ; We hunt the furtive Bustard as of yore ; Hark! in the Suleimans a lone Chukor Calls, or we hear the racy Salt Range talk. Good days they were, and, now I see their end, All for the sharing sweeter, weren’t they, friend ? Your Camel softly pads along the trail ; In the red dawn you hear the questing Owl ; You place your call-birds in the wheat for Quail ; Among the reeds, see! runs a water Rail...... Do you remember Morni’s Jungle Fowl ? Ah! When the strong-winged Sandgrouse swoop and pack, Over your butt, John, sometimes wish me back. R. C. B, a a0 PREFACE. The object of this little book is to meet the needs both of the beginner in Ornithology and of the sportsman with whom nature-study is not the first consideration, yet who would gladly identify what he shoots if he is furnished with easy means of doing so. The Individual Notes in Chapters V to XIII are largely “scissors and paste” It has seemed best to give exact quotations from the standard authorities. Where those authorities have themselves drawn on others, it is unnecessary, for reasons of space, to state that ‘Hume quotes Seebohm” etc., etc., and the name of the original writer alone has been given. The following main works to which the author is indebted are briefly described in the body of the book by the names italicised. His grate- ful thanks are to all the authors and publishers noted, with whose kind permission his quotations have been made. SS Author (short | description). pao Publisher. Hume and Marshall ( Hume.) Game Birds of Bri- tisn India, Buecma and Ceylon. Messrs. Higinbotham. Oates and Blanford | Fauna of British In- | Messrs, Francis and ( Fauna.) | dia, including Cey- | Yaylor, under autho- lon and Burma. rity of the Secretary of State. Oates Manual of the Game A. J. Combridge and Birds of India. | Co. Stuart Baker .» | The Indian Ducks and | Bombay Natural His- | their Allies. tory Society. Finn . | The Water Fowl of | Thacker Spink and Co, India and Asia. Pycraft AtHistory of Birds... | Methuen and Co. Hankin .. | Animal Flight Tliffe and Co, Bombay Natural His- tory Society’s Jour- nal. Bombay Natural His- tory Society. nn il PREFACE. It is hoped that, since the treatment of many topics in this book has been brief, the reader will be induced to refer to the standard authorities in original, Chapter II has been reproduced by the courtesy of the Illustrated Times of India, in which it first appeared. The author records his grateful thanks to the authori- ties of the Karachi Zoo by whom he was enabled to take certain photographs of the various Ducks in full dress, The new trinomial system of nomenclature, which is as yet perhaps unfamiliar to sportsmen in India generally and is needlessly technical for the purposes of this book, has not been used. CONTENTS. Para. Subject. PART 1 Cuaprer J. Methods of Duck Shooting. 1. Various methods of Duck shooting—* Walking Up,” Wildfowling, and Driving .. a Craptir II, Duck Driving anti Butt-Shooting Deseribed 2. Dueck Driving and Butt-Shooting Described PART VT: Cuaprer IVI. Object, System and Arrangement. Object of the book System and arrangement of the aa ae The “ Key ” system followed = as How to use the keys The plates illustrating key SD Tp oe Cuaptrr IV. Some Birds Commonly Mistaken for Duck. 8. Difference between the dueks and some birds commonly mistaken for them Cuapter V. The Thirteen Species Dealt With. 9, Division of the ducks into three main classes .. 10. The thirteen species dealt with .. Fe ll. Vernacular names 12. The Speculum Ap 13. Residents and migrants... 14. Dates of arrival and departure 15. Birds with names that help to identification. 16. Kind of water on which the various species are found Page. COO OG 1 10 _ pele Para. 17. 18. BL, CONTENTS. Subject. Cuarrer VI, Appea rance. General appearance—(i) in flight, doe on the water 3 ate ye Cuaprrer VIL. Size. Size ads Se or AG Cuaptear VIII. Colouration. Colouration from below Moulting and change of eblouEAtion {Index colouring of lower plumage, flanks Fl under tail-coverts Classification according to the nacicen of Bae primary feathers ais ae ee Similarity or dissimilarity in colouring, of the sexes a Birds that show much white when they fly .. CuHaptir IX. Flight. Speed Tricks of flight Manner of rising when surprised .. Regular formations in flight Distinctive noises in overhead flight CHAaPrer X., Feeding. Feeding Cuartrrr XI. Size of Flocks. Rough average size of flocks Page. t or BES 38 40 42 44 53 CONTENTS. ii Para. Subject. Page. Cuaprrr XII. Notes and Cries. 32. Distinctive notes or cries ms ae 58 Cyaprer XITI. Behaviour under Fire. 33. Behaviour under fire A Sc 63 AGE elie CHAPTER XIV. Notes on Shooting. 34, Some difficulties in shooting from a butt oe 68 35. Advantages of a good gun and good ammuni- tion oe oe oe oe 0 36. “Swing” versus ‘‘ Carry Carry Forward” method 37. Place to grip with the left hand ne 538. Lord Walsingham on shooting driven grouse.. 59. What the gun and cartridges can do CS i MS MS ie (i MS (| Om & bw NW © 40. Best size of shot for duck ae 53 41. Practice ac o0 ee 42. Cleaning Se . 43. Optimism and good temper ae ais 76 44. Some negative counsel 76 CHAPTER XY. Hints on Organising Duck Drive. 45. “Day” and “Night” Jheels as On 79 46. Varying conditions of different waters at differ- ent times .. -- 0 ae 80 47. Treatment of main versus subsidiary waters.. 80 48. Number and siting of butts % 81 49. Climatic conditions Sr os 82 50. When to fire the first shot oe ae 82 51. Some minor points 82 52. Conclusion oe = we 83 APPENDIX. The Keys an a .. 85 to 107 ILLUSTRATIONS. To fuce page The Garganey Teal Pe ah Ls Fronttspiece. A Butt, with Gun and Loader Installed at 4% 4 Going Out to Take Post in the Butts The Coot and Little Cormorant .. ac me | The Great Crested Grebe and Little Indian Grebe .. 12 Colouration from Below (three plates) a rane Moulting and Change of Colouration es - a Birds that Show Much White when they Fly (two plates; .. or ve we bier igbed Mallards .. Di is as oO Some Sporting Ducks .. is ie Hye Some Ducks in Full Dress =f re ae On “Paddlings” of Mixed Duck .. a an, 63 A Fair Sportswoman .. os Ne Pama Sketch Map to illustrate Para. 46 on “ Varying Condi- tions of Different Waters at Different Times .. &0 PART L -_—_ CHAPTER I. Methods of Duck Shooting. 1. There are many ways of shooting Duck, and those who at all specialise in each will say that their own single one is right. The beginner may favour walking . . . “cc them up, when he is more or less safe of one gratifying “sitter.” Far be it from the writer to decry the sportsman who stalks birds in this way. Often it is the only thing to be done, and the mere fact of having approached wary or well-educated fowl sufficiently near for a shot is often in itself an achievement. The shooter's opportunities of doing anything on a bigger scale may moreover be limited. He may be the kind of man also, the more credit to him, who likes watching the ways of birds before he fires at them. Nor is it always so easy as it seems to hit your bird at near range as he tumbles up out of cover. Thenthere is the occasional individual, rare enough doubtless in India now, who uses the punt-gun. One of the finest natural- ists that India has produced, however, Hume, was an enthusiast with the “swivel,” which he compares contemptuously with the mere ‘shoulder-gun,” and it was on this account and because he loved flight- shooting at night and even, strange as it may seem, netting, that we owe him so much close and accu- rate observation of the habits of the Duck tribe. “There is more skill, knowledge and endurance brought into play ” he wrote in the Game Birds of British India, Burma or Ceylon in 1879 and 1881, “and therefore more sport in one day’s big gun shooting than in a week of even exceptional twelve-bore shooting, but punts and swivels, here and at home, have utterly gone out of fashion and no gentleman now-a-days knows how to use them...... ,anditis useless playing the part of a laudator temporis acti or saying more of a form of sport which, however glorious, is as much extinct, where my readers are concerned, as falconry and hawking.” A good account, from his own pen, of one of Hume’s holocausts is given under the Garganey Teal in the Indi- vidual Notes to Chapter XI. One may be thankful if the punt-gunner has practically disappeared. If he had not, there would probably be fewer Duck, despite the protec- tion afforded by migration, in India than there are now. Various methods of shooting Dueck— * Driving.” [Onav. 1, 2 PARA.’ 1. To modern ideas wild-fowling on inland fresh water where the birds are sufficiently accessible, does not seem justifiable ; it may well be left, as at home, to the salt water estuaries where certain species are obtainable in no other way. To the writer’s mind, the most sporting method of shooting Duck is driving them, whether you merely lie up in cover at a place where the birds will pass and repass and have them put up by beaters or, in jhils with high and plentiful cover that yet does not prevent pass- age, cruise about in a party of several guns disposed in different boats, each helping to keep the game on the move for the other; or the method chiefly dealt with in this book—shoot, like a lord, from a well arranged fixed butt. The hardy sportsman who likes his tramp through a marsh will scoff at “the arm-chair expert who need’nt trouble to wet his feet,” but, for the pure art and enjoyment of shooting, the object of his derision will always be ready to turn the tables and say shooting driven Duck as much surpasses walking them up as riding a bold hunter to hounds over an open grass country excels assisting (on the brougham horse) to chop foxes in a park. “For Duck driving, India is the country par eacel- lence. You will look in vain for accounts of it in the home standard books. It most resembles /light-shoot- ing by day, a chance that the Badminton authority on Wildfowl shooting, Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey, only once had the good fortune to enjoy. ‘We were shooting snipe” he writes “on along spit of marshy land that reached far into a large lake. It had been blowing a gale from the south-west for some days, and_ every duck, widgeon and teal for many square miles of water had collected for shelter on the calm side of the point. They were there in hundreds, but there was nothing to be done except to look at them with longing eyes. We continued shooting snipe with poor success till about four o’clock, and then took another look at the duck before turning homewards; in the hope of getting a shot at one or two which had been swimming near the shore in the morning. On reaching the shore it became apparent that the wind, which was still blowing a full gale, had veered to the north-eat. We knew that this change would unsettle the fowl, as they were now on a rough shore and not, as before, in snug shelter, and the calculation soon proved correct, That evening every bird passed within fair shot over- head, though at a great speed, making for the other iCiraps, DT & 11, PARAS: - ba Dt side of the point—now the smooth one. They came at first singly, then in couples, then in threes and fours, often in dozens, Pintail, teal, widgeon and duck were hurrying overhead for quite half an hour. Being fortu- nately well supplied with cartridges, as our snipe- shooting had not been nearly as good as we had expect- ed, we fired between seventy and eighty shots almost as fast as it was possible to load and fire, and until the ammunition was exhausted. Even then the birds were passing over, though the great bulk of them had gone. That day and the next, we picked up with the aid ofa good dog, nearly fifty dead birds; no doubt several escaped wounded and others fell at a distance. This, with No. 8 shot, may be regarded as good enough. It was the best halfhour’s sport we ever experienced, or shall ever be likely to enjoy again.” In the succeeding chapter the authors own attempt will be made to describe in some detail the sensations of a keen shot vis-a-vis the driven bird. Suffice it here to say that there are no ‘sitters’’ in this kind of shooting, that there are not many near birds, that the pace is usually a high one and that birds come at all kinds of angles and heights. Opportunities arise and are frequently successfully converted of shots that do not occur in ordinary shooting, or, if they do, are often left alone as too difficult; here however you are getting plenty of them, and you attempt the apparently impossible and sometimes surprise yourself. For the same reason, if you are making the same mistake over and over again, you have time to think things out and consider what it is you are doing wrong. Then, having found what seems to be the solution, you have the means and the chance to test it in practice at the time. And the tense excitement of it.—! Away in the distance, high over the open water of which you command so good a view, a flock appears. Will they come to you, or will they not? Jfthey do, what kind ofa shot is it going to be, and what are you going to do, in the mini- mum time, to solve all the complicated issues (different almost for every shot, involved in hitting them ? CHAPTER II. Duck Driving and Butt Shooting Described 2. It was ten o'clock of a beautiful bright morning not far on the other side of Christmas, and the punts, each manned with an eager sportsman or two, were pushing off from the shore and making for the butts, of which there were eighteen on the water, ‘Yours {Omar. LL PARA. 2.] 4 is a pretty useful place, though not one of the very best,’ the writer had been told, and he followed with interest the neat sketch-map which showed him that his position was away towards the right-hand horn of the great horse-shoe lake. Overhead, Pallas Fishing Eagle wheeled, screaming raucously, its white neck and white-barred tail conspicu- ous even at a distance. Now the tamarisk bushes on the far side were within reach when we heard the deep alarmed “ q-u-a-r-k, q-u-a-r-k” of the female Mallard, as the Peregrine, that queen of Falcons, which arrives and departs with its quarry, the Duck, swooped overhead. In the distance, disturbed by some other boat, a huge flock of snow-white Spoonbills floated up, flying well, with long necks straight, after the manner of Geese. The Coots too were getting busy and the Duck were starting to move, but the time at which the first shot was to be fired was still distant, and we let them be, content to watch them and see if we could make them out afar off. Some you can hardly mistake. There is the Red-crested Pochard, who shows more white on his wiags than perhaps any common Duck in Northern India, the Spotbill, with his long neck, large size, and uniformly grey under-parts, and so on. Even the manner of flight you get to know after a while, the hur- ried, fussy style of the short-winged Pochards, differing from the easy mastery of the long-winged True Ducks, such as the Gadwall, Mallard and Pintail. Here the writer parted from his companion, whose position was further on, with mutual wishes for good luck. The butt was nicely built of tamarisk branches, to match the vegetation of the surrounding water, the sides thick enough to prevent the birds seeing you through them, and not too high to prevent your firing over them, while the floor was firm and the room sufficient both for the gun and his loader. The boatmen, hardy, amphibious creatures of the fisherman caste, dressed for the occasion in colours of protective green, now tucked the punt away among the trees and got into position to retrieve fallen birds. Still a few minutes to go before the ‘zero hour.” When you are actually shooting, it is not well to take too much thought about forward allowances and other shooting technicalities, but the mind may be gently directed beforehand in such moments along channels that it will follow subconsciously later, The man at the shooting-school told you years ago the reason why you do less well on birds that cross from left to right A Butt, with Gun and Loader installed, Cuap. LI, 5 PARA, 2. | than on those going vice-versa. Remember now this old vice therefore and any others that you may possess, but, like the good Christian assured of salvation, put such thoughts from you later and do your actual shoot- ing with an untroubled mind. Ah! You hear a distant ‘pop, pop.” Now the fun is going to begin. Up sails a big flock, Mallard from the heavy build and the green heads and white-collared necks of the males, but they are not in range. Perhaps they saw you, so you crouch lower in your butt. Whoosh. Another flight, Common Teal this time, is on you before you quite realise it and you loose off an ineffective two barrels. The profane man here works otf steam with an useful expletive or two. Whichever way you are made, you realise that this wants looking into. Something else comes along, what kind of bird you are too anxious even to make out. You think it is just within range and you fire again as the flock sees you and wheels away. Nota bird falls, though one flinched distinctly. You flatter yourself that this was a little better. Actually you know that you were behind and that the deviation of the bird was probably due to air displacement and not to a_ hit, It does take a bit of getting into, And then, just when you were beginning to feel a little unhappy, you take an incomer with exactly the right amount of lead, and, as he falls not too far behind you, you realise you have made a beginning. The guns all round are hard at it, and the birds come in at all angles and with a fine turn of speed. The pace of winged things is often much exaggerated. The point is discussed in con- siderable detail in Chapter IX. A recognised old-time authority says of Mallard. “Their rate of flights pro- bably 100 miles per hour.” But what were his data? An ornithologist, who studied the subject in connection with anti-aircraft duties during the War, thinks that “for a short distance, the swift” (the fastest, probably, bar none, of all birds) “can reach a speed of 100 miles per hour.” Well, be the pace of the birds what it may to-day, they are going quite fast enough for you. But you are beginning to swing to it, and your bag is creep- ing up. The loader, despite Indian ideas of the Evil Eye, is keeping count, and you cheer up at what he reports. Don’t try and keep eyes in both sides of your head. The man, even if he has two guns going for you, will face in the other direction and warn you of birds coming up behind, so that you can keep your undivided attention on your front. Now you get three, four, and even five consecutive hits and are beginning to fancy (Cuar. LI. PARA, 2,] 6 yourself a bit, when, swish, swish, a bunch of Teal twist and swoop at you, climbing like lightning to your in- effective first barrel so that you miss the second too. That humbles your pride and you begin to notice that you have got through a surprising number of eartridges already. nee worry too much about that. This sort of thing, like Christmas, only comes once a year and you would do better to select some other field, your drink-bill, say, for economy. The behaviour of the different kinds of birds under fire is very interesting. The big Duck. Mallard, Spotbill etc., go steadily on, not altering elevation like the Teal, ian Wee at, though most wall wheel away (a very favourable opportunity for number two barrel) offering a lot of under surface when surprised by number one It is interesting too to see the kinds of Duck that 20 to- gether. Often, for instance, you will see a Shoveller or a Spotbill piloting a flock of Common Teal,—--fathering them, you might almost suppose. That time you only got your first barrel bird, though you hoped to make it a right and left. Jn fact you ra instinctively that you were ‘‘on” your second bird. Well, it sometimes happens. The experts tell you of “cartwheel patterns” @.e., bona fide cases where, at 40 yards, the centre of a 30 inch pattern is left bare of pellets. The high class shot, therefore, who has got his bird exactly centred fails where the dutfer who gets him on the outer edge succeeds Take that flattering unetion to your soul. There is to be an interval for lunch anda “general post” of positions after, and the time is drawing near, You take an incomer as yeur last shot of the morning and he falls, dramatically enough, right inside your butt and you have some work to avoid him. Now is the time to take stock of your bag, some of which indeed has already been gathered in. Why let shikaris spoil game by careless handling? The halal custom of the good Muhammadan works dreadful havoc with the aspect of your bag, but some birds will have died before the knife and some you will except expressly from that ceremony. Half the pleasure of s)iooting to some consists in an after-study of the colours and plumage Your Mallard drake for example arrives in the early winter, adult though he be, dull and sombre, and changes gradually into brighter colours, till, by the end of the season, he has assumed his splendid full- dress. One by one you go over them Here is a male Shoveller, glorious withal, with green head, bay belly and blue shoulders, and a_ right good flyer he is even ‘s}jng oy} ur qsod oyvy 07 Jno Sutoxy yt " [CHap. 11, PARA, 2, | though some do scoff at his habit of haunting muddy village pools. You have plenty of Spotbill, aptly named from their curious variegated beaks, and not a few Gadwall, very sporting movers, with speckled heads, pencilled breasts, black and white wing-bands, and the tell-tale, brown patch on the wing-coverts. Oh! Here is something out of the way for your part of the country. What is it? It isa rather drab, middle-sized Duck and it has no distinctive wing-band. But it has a very short and slightly tapering bill, grey, with a black tip. Something stirs in your recollection. You look among the rest of your bag, and now you have it. She is a female Wigeon. You would not mistake a male in a full plumage, if you had ever seen one, dis- tinguished as he is by his chestnut head with cream blaze, pinky breast, white shoulders and green speculum. But the lady was a bit of a puzzle. Now the friend parted from earlier in the morning came and picked the writer up. Bags were compared and the friend was found to have slightly the smaller, It is a mean mind that drives satisfaction from these little things, but there is at least consolation in finding that you have been doing better than you yourself supposed, Anything over thirty-five brace was good, and the total bag was over eight hundred for the morning, |\Cuap. I11, 8 PARAS, 3 & 4. | PART ITI, CHAPTER III. Object, System and Arrangement. niece of 3. A number of sportsmen, at a big shoot, most the book. of them by no means novices, were once asked to keep, for identification and preservation, some of the rarer Ducks of Northern India, a nominal list being supplied to them. Most of them very frankly replied that, though they would do their best to comply, they feared they were not able to distinguish any but the very commonest birds, especially when on thewing. If that was the case with them, the tyro’s difficulty must be considerable. Few people it is hoped shoot for the mere pleasure of killing. The sportsman’s interest in his shooting would accordingly be much increased if he were able, without having recourse to the standard books on the subject, many of them too technical as to repel -the beginner, to spot what it is that he has shot and to discover something about its habits in general. The ordinary man probably depends on little beyond colour, size and a very few salient features of shape, etc., for his identifications, and, if he turns to the illustrated books, he gets a picture, often admirable, of the bird in repose along with a highly technical feather-to-feather deserip- tion of the plumage. That is all right if he has the dead bird in his hand, but one does not always want to kill in order to be able to identify, and it is for every reason nicer to be able to recognise your bird before, rather than after, you have fired at him. The present little book, then, has two objects, one to acquaint the practical sportsman with the commoner Duck that will be met with on alarge sheet of water in Upper India in circumstances mainly in which the birds come to the gun, and the other, by drawing atten- tion to some of their essential habits and by citing a few simple commonsense rules of shooting, to assist him to hit them. System and 4. The system and arrangement of the book calls for aia teary some explanation. Instead of taking each bird and of the book. aon : . . giving, ina more or less exhaustive account, everything material that is known about it, the plan usually adopted in the bird books, certain subjects or topics have been selected, e. g., Peculiarities of Appearance, Size, Coloura- tion from Below, Flight, Behaviour under Fire, etc., in the light of which all the species are to be brought under a common review. These topics cover Chapters V 9 [Cuav. ITT, PARAS. 4,5 & 6. to XIII, which contain, in the Notes on Individual Species, the original observations in abstract of well known ornithologists, prefaced by a few general remarks in which general principles are sought to be brought out, the results of the Individual Notes, etc., being summarised for each topic, in one of the 20 Keys, which will be found at the end of each Chapter and in the Appendix and which can also be obtained bound complete as a separate set of notes or chart for reference in the field. Cross referen- ces are given from the paragraphs in the text to the Keys and vice versd, The species are dealt with in the same _ order throughout, and the index vf contents has been made as full as possible. It should not therefore, it is hoped, be difficult to find one’s way about the book. 5. The attempt is made to seize and fix, by means of simple tables (“Keys”) and the use of non-technical lan- guage, some of the broadest of the general characteristics of the common species that would be met with on a large sheet of water where the birds come to the gun. All generalisations are dangerous and it is easy to press any or all too far. All that can be hoped for, or expected, is some rough guide to the usual, the normal and the average throughout, and, if observalion is stimulated by the detection of omissions or over- generalisations, something at least will have been gained. The system of similar simple Keys for the use of ordinary people was first adopted, it is believed, by Mr. D. Dewar in his “Indian Birds,” a book that must have earned him the gratitude of many a mild seeker after bird-knowledge. All the information for each species cannot be given in every Key (see the blank in Key 18, ‘Distinctive Notes or Cries”) for the reason that the necessary observations bave not been completed it is believed, even by the highest authorities. 6. Now for a practical illustration of how it is inten- ded the Keys may be used. You are safely installed in your butt, and you see a flock of ten or so tubby little Duck coming in at you, flying low en masse with fast-whir- ring wings, very clear in their minds as to the point they are making for. You get a general impression of dark- bodied birds with a big patch of white about the middle below and with conspicuous white in their wings. They get to within about the regulation forty yards of you, and thena slight movement on your part, or, may be, the colour of your top7, gives you away and the whole flock wheels, giving you a complete under-view as you fire. You see clearly now that the » The “cc Key ” system followed. How to use the Key, [Cuars, LIT & IV, paras. 6,:7 & 8.] 10 The plates illustrating Key 6. Difference between the Ducks and some bitds commonly mistaken for them. abdomen in some (the males) is white, as is the wing- lining and under tail-coverts, while the head, throat and vent, roughly, are chesnut to dark-brown, You can even see that the wing has a dusky all-round edging, One is brought back to you and you find a_ thick- plumaged little bird with an eye (not yet glazed in death) that has a conspicuous white iris. The remarks in Chapter IX on the general difference in flight between the True Ducks and the Pochards tell you that this is a Pochard. His wings are short and rounded, Key 1 suggests that it is the White-eyed Duck, as indeed the white iris (see also Key) has already made you suspect. You will do well, though, to corroborate before you jump to a conclusion. Run your eye down the list of Keys in para. 14 and see which is likely to help you most. No. 4 and 6 in Chapters VI and VIII respectively show you a_ bird with the tell-tale colouring you are looking for. No. 5 in Chapter VII tells you that the white Eyed Duck is little bigger than a Teal. No. 10 in Chapter IX says he is one of the birds that show much white in the wing. No. 8 says that his speed is respectable. From No. 2 in Chapter V you will see that the Latin specific name ferruginea is helpful; the prevailing colour is a rusty red. Last of all, run your eye along the details in Key No.1, Chapter V. There you see that the speculum is not distinctive and you find his namber in the Fauna of India, Birds, if you want to see what a scientific book says about him. 7. The plates illustrating Key 6, Chapter VIII, ‘‘Colouration as Seen from Below,” are, in order to give as close a presentation of the details of the shades as possi- ble, reproduced from photographs of the dead bird. A black and white presentation is, as remarked elsewhere, probably as near as need be to what the human eye sees at ranges much over forty yards. ‘The scale throughout is fairly accurate, as the photographs were all taken with the object at an equal distance from the camera. CHAPTER IV. Birds Commonly Mistaken for Ducks. 8. There are some birds which are commonly mistaken by the stranger, or the absolute beginner, for Duck, such as the Coots, Grebes and Cormorants. There is a famous spot in the Western Punjab where a great jhii and its subsidiary waters are shot with due care, preparation and circumstance by a large party two or three times every year. A game-book is hept in two [RIRDS COMMONLY MISTAKEN FOR DUCK. The Coot (Fudica a:ra), ! The Little Cormorant (P/a/acrocorax favanicus). a! [Cuar. IV, PARA. 8. | parts, (a) in which the number bagged by each individual gun is noted, and (b) in which the total bag for all the guns is classified under the different species composing it. (mm one of these occasions there was a Distinguished Foreign Guest. ‘How many did you get?” he was asked at lunch. “Forty.” “Good” said the recorder, since good it was for an unfavourable, stormy day, ‘ What kinds were they?” ‘Oh, the usual kinds,” answered the D. F.G. easily “including twenty-five Black Duck.” Now it was along time before the “bag” was brought in, but certain suspicions which refused to be comforted had been aroused in the bosom of the recorder, On the other hand, courtesy demanded that forty, as announced, should be scored up to the D. F.G. The trouble, it was felt, was going to begin when those “Black Duck” had to be entered up in the printed columns provided for all the known game birds obtainable and the whole classified result tallied with grand total of the bag. And so it was. The “Black Duck” were found to be all Coots and Cormorants, and they had to be put down as “errors of classification ” in a new and separate column to themselves, But the D. F. G. never knew. A glance at the accompanying plates will be the best way to visualise the general differences of shape and colouring in these undesirables as against the sportsman’s true game, the Ducks. Generally speaking, the Ducks* ean be distinguished from all other Indian birds by the following characters. The bill is straight and armed at the edges of both chaps (mandibles) with a row of trans- verse ridges or teeth (lamellae) and the feet have moderate or short shanks (tarsi) and three toes in front webbed together, andasmall, nearly or quite useless toe behind, not connected with the front toes. The Coots and Grebes (the Dabchick is the smallest of the Grebes) have beaks and feet very unlike those of the Ducks, the toes* ‘not being webbed together but provided each with a separate and individual web,” while the Cormorants have, besides a dissimilar beak, a ‘“hind-toe well developed and joined to the front ones by an extension of the web which unites these.” Specially remarkable in the Ducks are the long feathers (‘‘tertiaries”) that bridge the space between the wings and the body, allowing no room for the passage of air with consequent loss of power in flight at this point, The following peculiarities too are to be noted :— The Coot (Fulica atra) has allover dark-grey or blackish plumage. His length is 16 inches. He is rather like the Ducks in his habits and he flies strongly and well enough, but nothing like as fast as the Ducks generally * Finn, ‘* Water Fowl of India and Asia.”’ . [Cuars. lV & V, PARAS, 8, 9 & 10.| 12 Division of the Ducks into three main classes. (Key 1.) Thirteen species dca't wth, and he rises with difficulty, flapping along the surface for many yards by the aid of his feet. He has a white bill and frontal disk. The Grebes (Podicipes) have very short round wings and an almost rudimentary tail. They very rarely leave the water, though they are not bad flyers, once they are off it. They are expert divers. The Great Crested Grebe is 22, and the Dabechick only 9, inches long. The latter species has been mistaken for a duckling. The Cormorants, the commonest species of which is the Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorae javanicus), are diving fishers with black or greyish plumage on the upper parts and very often on the lower also, They have longish necks and bills and largish tails with stiff feathers, The Little Cormorant is about 20 inches long. He has a powerful sustained flight, but also rises with difficulty, flapping for some distance along the surface. The Cormorants sail occasionally in mid-air, with wings outspread, the Ducks never, CHAPTER V. The Thirteen Species Dealt With. 9. The Ducks may conveniently be divided into three classes, viz., the Grey Ducks, the True Ducks and the Diving Ducks (Pochamls*) (see Key 1 below, col. 2). The Spotbill, the only representative dealt with of Mr. Oates’ «Grey Ducks,” has a less pointed wing than the “True Ducks.” The latter are highly migratory and require wings fitted for prolonged flight; the former species is resident and has developed a more blunted and less efficient type of wing. The Teal, which have simply earned a separate popular name on account of their smaller size, are included in the True Ducks. The wings of the Diving Ducks are shorter, their bodies are rounder and their feet placed further back than in the other two classes, and their down and feathers are thicker and more impervious to wet, all characteristics that adapt them specially for taking their food, and diving, under water. The difference between the Pochards and the True Ducks is an essential one, and will be traceable through many of the points and habits described, such as Flight, Feeding, Cries, etc. 10. Thirteen species are dealt with. These are the commoner Duck to be found in a big shoot on large sheets of water in Upper India. Others might have been added, but the intention is that this little book shall not 2Pronounced ‘ Pokard,” ‘‘ Poker,” says Hume, is Norfolk dialect for ‘‘ diver.” BLRDS COMMONLY MISTAKEN FOR DUCK. > The Great Crested ,G rebe (Podictpes cristatus), The Dabchick, or Little Indian Grebe (Powicipcs albipenni’s), Fs [Cmar. V, = PARA. 10.| be overloaded, Sportsmen, it is hoped, may care to carry out observations of their own on the same lines for other and rarer varieties, The order in which the birds will be treated will always be that in the Summary Key 1 below viz :— 1. Spotbill. 8. Shoveller, 2. Mallard. 9. Marbled Duck. 3. Gadwall. 10. Red-crested Pochard. 4. Common Teal, 11. The Pochard. 5. Wigeon. 12. White-eyed Duck. 6. Pintail. 13. Tufted Duck, 7. 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V, PARA. 10,| —— we = ‘a's ‘('W | Saay wey Moamvu jo 4sea0 paquiod y spe SUIT S91 Sul opRat Jo og =" pojyseio A[[njJ puv pot pray ‘ysthois [Up pelqavm waojyiun adsvmnjid asddg ‘asnq qivou sv diy 4B pwomq sBa01M4 [1g “- a V ‘99M Vv OULU M y ‘Aois Aysy y ‘Soars aped ao 941y Ay aye ¥ ‘uda15 “ce “ae Md “QuBlt[t1g y[Nps ul oseminyd szoddn ae ae oc ee fe leas “ mnipey ““ “W ‘OZIS UL VOIVT SOJOUIP ‘Ty (72) 27047 ‘TL OI YT ‘SON Wourz ‘syond dnvog og “SsBlo QUeLO Ip v UT ET ‘ON sand saqeg ‘ayy anq ‘sesodand Suryaom soz [NJosn ST ,,“VIpUy Jo SPAT oWV ,, SI UL BeyVGO “APY JO IYI St YOLYAL “UOTFROYISSBlO OY, (7) 270K ss pynhipng DION AT pawibndlaf BIOL AT s pura, DwooIhny Se “pUuynt D}}A! "s1ugsoligsnd D]JIUVOLOULAD JT -» — pypadhja nynzody *Spavlpoog 10 song surard TIT 609T 190d PesjuL St . “9091 ONT VEAS OFT GE GOO PAvtLoog ONL “IL “FOOT pavbyoog Pea 8 ot Op SO eeOn GO9L ING peTqreyy “G OT 1ayjaaoyg “gs (Cav. V PARA. 1] Vernacular names. — (Key 20) F 16 11. In Key 20 below (cols, 2 and 3) will be found the Hindustani and Hindi names of the United (old North- West) Province and Sindh as given by Hume and Marshall in the “Game Birds.” The transliteration and spelling is reproduced unaltered. [t is by no means above reproach, even according to ancient pre-Hunterian principles, for even the same word is spelt in different ways, etc., ete. Possibly this does not matter, since few of the words, except the simplest, will be found in any Dictionary. A nodding acquaintance with the local names is worth cultivation, since the sportsman who knows them will at once be on better terms with his coolies and shikarae. There are now many excellent glossaries of local dialects, to which reference may be made. The subject is not one to which the standard books have paid much attention. Where the vernacular names convey anything to the European with a smattering of the vernaculars, they will be found mostly to be based on some simple feature of colouring. Thus we have the ‘Blue Head” (Mallard) and the ‘Red-Head” (Red-crested Pochard and the Pochard), the ‘Little Red Head” (Wigeon), the ‘Red Bill” (another name for the Red-crested Pochard) and the * Pied Duck” (Tufted Duck). The Sindhi names for the Red- crested and ordinary Pochard mean also “the Red Duck.” But vernacular nomenclature is very primitive. We have already seen that no less than three birds are hardly dis- tinguished at all by name, and the Pochard and the White- eye, to judge by Hume’s recorded names, are suppased to be male and female of the same species. Three birds again, the Common Teal, the Wigeon and the Garganey, which bear little enough resemblance to one another except in size, are all called Putavi. It is a mistake, though, to suppose that the local product does not appreciate a picture or remember a name, if anyone, will take the trouble to explain them to him, It was the surprise of the writer’s life to find an unlikely-looking shikari on a well-known Jhkil in the Gurdaspur District of the Panjab whom you could not puzzle in regard to the English titles of the common Duck. Asked how he had come by his knowledge, the man replied that an European sportsman had once made a stay of several days at the place; he had a book with coloured pictures in it (how the shade of Hume must have rejoiced!), which, on being asked, he had shown to the shikavi, repeating the Englsh names till they were understood. Col. 4 of Key 20 gives the current names in Western Panjabi. The resemblance to Hume’s Sindhi will be apparent. ‘There is obviously much confusion in the popular mind between the last four species. [Cuar. V, 17 PARAS. 11 & 12.1] KEY 20 eee eee re — eps United Provinces Hindi =: : Western BNE or Hindustani. —_ Panjabi. 1 2) 3 4 1. Spotbill ... | Garam pai, Gugra, Bata | Hunjur ... | Hanjar. 2. Mallard... | Nilsir PP NIG (I Esa. (NIL fe Niner, Missi. 3. Gadwall ... | Mila, Beykhur, *Bhuar| Burd _... | Buhir. 4. Common Tea)| Kerra, Lohya kerra,| Kardo ... | Karra, Karri. Putari, *Souchuruka. 5. Wigeon ... | Pea-san, Patari, *Pharia,| Parrow ... | Fardha. *Chota Lalsir. 6. Pintail .-. | Sanh, Sink-par ... | Drighush, | Dargosh. *Kokarali 7. Garganey | Chaitwa, Patari ak “4 Tetri. Teal. | 8. Shoveller ... | Tidari, Punana, Tokur- | Alipat... | Gahna. wala, *Ghirah. 9. Marbled os Ame Chohini, Chi- Duck. hi. 10. R ed-crested | Lal-choonch, Lall-sir...{ Rattoba ... | Ratba, Lalsir. Pochard 11..The Pochard | Boorar nur, Lall-sir ... | Rutubah... | Ratba, Torin- da, Burara, 12. W hite-eyed | Karchiya, Boorar mada | Burnu_... |Burnu, Burara Duck. 13. Tufted Duck| Dubaru, Ablac, *Rah- | Turando... | Runara, Fara- wara. ha. 12. The speculum (See Key 1) is the exposed ane of the secondary} quills w ith their longer coverts, distinguished by conspicuous and often metallic colour- ation. It it not visible from below but is so remarkable a feature of the Duck family and so useful as a means for superficial distinction between the species that it has been included in this Key. NotE.—The spelling in Cols. 2and 3is that of ‘‘the Game Birds of British India, ete.’ unaltered. * From the Fauna. } Norr. —The “secondaries” may be taken to mean all the quills of the wing, other than the first ten or eleven counting from the tip inwards, which are the “‘ primaries,’ The secondary quills spring from the forearm (radius and ulna), 3 The Specu- lum, PARAS. 12, 13 & 14.] Residents and migrants. Dates of arrival and departure, {Cuar. V, 18 ‘A theory has been advanced,” says Finn, * to the effect that different markings on the wings of allied birds are ‘recognition marks’ whereby the individuals of each species are enabled to know their own kind, and hence verify the proverb about birds of a feather sticking together. Nevertheless the Ducks which furnish such excellent examples of differing wing-markings, also furnish - evidence which is rather unfavourable to this recognition- colour idea. In the first place, several of the Pochards agree in having the same wing-pattern, and the flight of these is certainly not quite the same. And, secondly, the wing bar is not always constant inthe same species in all its individuals. The female Wigeon seldom has one, and it is generally absent in the female Pintail, though I knew at one time in India of no less than three female individuals of this species which acquired it, though without it at first. Also the female. Garganey gets an approach to this marking with advancing age; so that it would seem that these two species are now acquiring the marking, which is not yet fixed.” One parts from the ‘recognition mark” theory with regret. It seems to help to explain the wonderful preci- sion of the movements of the flocks and the time they keep. But, points out Finn, if it were so important to the birds to know each other, the slower, weaker females would need to show their nationality more than the males, the more so as they are the members of the species which are so difficult to distinguish as to render a special recognition mark necessary. Finn inclines to the conclusion that nature intended the marking as an ornament, as indeed it is. “It is in some cases at any rate,” he says, ‘displayed in court- ship, and that no doubt is the chief use of its presence.” 13. Only one of the thirteen, vis, the Spotbill, is a common resident breeding in Upper India, a fact of interest to the gunner because the bird has not the same dense plumage as those that come to India from colder climes and does not accordingly carry as much shot as other duck of equal weight. The Marbled Duck is not known to breed in Sind, but is probably of limited migration. Throughout the winter, a good deal of movement goes on within India. Thus, before Christmas, the sports- man in the Western Panjab may be shooting, besides the pretty constant Shoveller, Gadwall and Common Teal, mostly White-eyed and (later) Mallard while, after Christ- mas, on the same water the birds may be mainly Mallard, e.g., The Pochard, the White-eye and the Tufted Duck. Local, not less than complete seasonal, migration depends on food supply. 14. It may be of interest to tabulate (see below) (the approximate dates of arrival in and departure from the [CHap. V, 9 PARA. 14. ] plains of Northern India of the various Duck, These times will, of course, vary very much with the nature of the seasons in India and according -to locality, “As welcome as on the mountains the feet of him who bringeth glad tidings” (thus does Col, Tickell, an old-world ornithologist and nature-lover, do justice to the sportsman’s feelings at the beginning of the shooting season) ‘are the first fights of the Water Fowl which announce to the nearly.exhausted European the approach of the delicious ‘cold season’ of India. Riding slowly across the open meadows or the treeless uplands, now and then breathing his Arab and his ‘long dogs’ in a spurt after a “lomree” (fox) as it returns from its night rambles to ‘earth’ and inhaling with cheered spirits the cold breezes of early morning, the horseman sees across the dappled sky long lines of clamorous Geese or swift-flying Duck hurrying up from the horizon and passing overhead, as if fraught with messages of comfort and encouragement from the colder regions to the parched torrid zone. Some pass grandly overhead, mere specks and lines far up in the blue vault, bound to distant waters further south ; others with a satin rustle of their rapid wings cleave the air so closely by that the observer dis- eerns the species as they rush past and recognises familiar forms associated with recollections of snowy moors and ice-bound pools ‘at home’ in far England.” The dates are mainly based on Hume. It is a curious point that many of the species that arrive earliest, like the Common Teal and Gadwall, also stay the latest and vice versa, the Pintail, which rarely arrives before Novem- ber, being seldom seen after the first of April. : ei Approximate Arrival Dates of Departure nee = (earliest). (latest). | 1. | Spotbill ... | Resident see oto 2. Mallard ...| Middle to the end of | Before latter half of October. April. 3. | Gadwall ... | Latter half of October | Late March to first week in May. 4. | Common Teal... | Latter half of Septem- | Sometimes well into \ ber. May. [ d | Wigeon ... | End of October ... | End of March or April. G. | Pintail* ... | Rarely before Novem-| Very rarely after be- ber. ginning of April. Garganey Teal | Towards close of August! End of March or first orearly September. | half of April. ~J * NovrE.—Pintail have been shot in the Western Panjab as early as the 2nd October and as late as the 6th April. |Coar. V, 29 PARAS. 14 & 15. | es Approximate Arriva! Dates of Departure No. Bird. (earliest). (latest). 8. | Shoveller . | Latter end of October | End of April. 9 | Marbled Duck* | Late October or early | April or even late November, May. 10, | Red-crested Latter half of October | Never after the end Pochard. of the first week of April. 11. | The Pochard ... | Latter half of October | Probably beginning of April (Oates . 12. | White-eyed Last week of October... | March. Duck. 13. | Tufted Duck ...} End of first half of | About end of first October week of April Birds with . EON es eee rai 15. By no means all the names, popular or scientific, help to English, Latin or Greek, with which birds have been Lael saddled help to identification, Among the Ducks here (Key 2.) dealt with, Mallard, Gadwall and Garganey are English names that convey nothing to the ordinary person, No Greek or Latin scholar is likely, on the face of them, to make much out of some of the names invented or imported from the dead languages, such as Nyroca. There are however some names in all the tongues laid under contri- bution that do point to some permanent and distinctive characteristic of the bird, and it may be worth while to run through these. Plumage accounts for Pintail in the English and acuta in the Latin name, the bird really having long, pointed “pin ” feathers in his tail; also for Marbled Duck and marmaronetta, from the dappled plumage of this species ; also, for obvious reasons, for Red-crested Pochard ; and for acuta in the name of the Garganey Teal, from the long, pointed bluish-black, white-shafted outer scapulars (shoulder-feathers) ; also for Jerruginea in the Latin name of the White-eyed Duck, from the deep rusty-red brown head and surrounding parts ; also, for obvious reasons, for Tufted Duck ; and, lastly, for fuligula in the Latin name of ee Tufted Duck from the black colour of the upper parts. 2 ee * Note.—It is not at all unlikely, says Oates, that some birds of this species may remain in the North-West parts of India during the Summer. ee 21 (|CHaP: V, PARAS. 15 & Three of our Ducks derive names from the shape and colour of their heaks, viz., the Spotbill (which has the beak black, vividly spotted yellow at base and tip) for whom the ornithologists have invented the wonderful equivalent poecilorlyncus for his popular English name ;: the Shoveller (spatula in the Latin) because he hasa bill which you may call either a shovel ora compounder’s spatula; and the Marbled Duck, which has a very narrow bill with two sides parallel, which deserves the Latin name angus- trrostris. The colour of his eye is the obvious explanation of the White-eyed Duck’s name. Habits supply the reason for the names (some none too obvious) of the following, viz., the Diving Ducks asa class are called ‘* Pochards ” (pronounced Pokard) because, as Hume points out, Poxard means “diver” either in Norfolk dialect or in Old English. Streperus is quite apt in the Latin name of the Gadwall, pointing to the incessant chatter which the birds keep up when feeding. Wigeon is onomatopoeic, being an attempt to reproduce by the human tongue the curious call of the bird (see chapter XII and Key 18). 16. Something may be said as to where the birds which are the object of the sportsman’s attentions may be found during the day, a time when most of them are not feeding but resting. Of all the species treated, the Gadwall and _ the Common Teal are perhaps the most ubiquitous. Any piece of water, large or small and of whatever kind, be it river, pond or marsh, seems to suit them. The Pochards are birds of the open water, and none more so than the Red-crested who will lie out in wide open stretches with- out a scrap of cover, ‘T'he other Pochards are not averse from vegetation, but prefer the deeper jhils. The Spot- bill and Shoveller are to be found on the smaller waters. The Shoveller is par excellence the bird of the village pond. Not that he is not to be found almost anywhere else besides, but, if he does visit the larger jhi/s, he will be met near the shore. The waters the Spotbill likes best are the small weedy ones. Of the remaining . varie- ties, which have not been mentioned above, it may be said that they are mainly birds of the larger broads and marshes that have more or less cover, at any rate on the edges; among them, the Mallard, Common Teal and Garganey are also tobe found on rivers, as are the Spot- bill and the Gadwall. That wary bird, the Pintail, dis- trusts high cover, and prefers the protection of low water- plants from which it can easily discern the approach of any danger. 16.] Kind of water on which found. (Key 3.) (OHARAY, PARA. 16, | 39 NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. Spotbill.—Their haunts seem to vary very much, says Stuart-Baker. Probably they prefer tanks, jhils and small pieces of water which are well-covered with weeds, and they seldom resort to large pieces of water. They inhabit the smaller jhils which are surrounded near the margin with jungle, and here they may be seen all asleep, except one or two which are on sentry-duty near the edge. In the District of Mymensingh however they are found on the vast bheels which stretch for miles in ‘every direction and here also they breed in great numbers. They are also. found, though I think but rarely, on small quickly-Howing streams in forest. On the other hand, on same of the bigger rivers they are not uncommon. Mallard.—Marshy places, says MacGillivray, the margins of lakes, pools and rivers, as well as_ brooks, rills and ditches, are its principal places of resort at all seasons. Gadwall.—You find them equally, sys Hume, in the largest rivers and the smallest hill streams, in huge lakes and small ponds, in open water, as at the Sambhar Lake, where nota reed or rush is to be seen and in tangled swamps where there is barely clear water enough to float a walnut..........Oa rivers they are generally to be seen snoozing on the bank during the day, and then they com- monly leave these towards sunset for feeding grounds inland. In broads they keep, if at all disturbed, well out of gunshot towards the centre, sometimes in clear water, more often skulking in low water-weeds; but in unfre- quented places they may, even during the daytime, be found walking on the shore or paddling in the shallows round the edges of the tank, feeding busily with their tail-ends bolt upright and the rest of them hidden by the water. Common Teal.—Where habitually shot at, they spend the day on some large river or sheet of water and feed chiefly at night in wet fields, swamps and the smaller phils, changing their quarters for this purpose about sunset, and there is no species more commonly bagged in flight- shooting (Hume), Occurs on almost every piece of water, whether large or small, river, pond or marsh (Oates). Wigeon.—In Upper India, says Hume, we habitually meet them on good-sized pieces of water, some portions of the shores of which are smooth and turfy. They are excessively rare on bare lakes like the Sambhar. On small ponds I have never once seen them. Nor. have T, except very rarely, seen them on our large rivers, but they are not so uncommon in smaller rivers flowing through meadow- like turfy flats. Se 23 [Cuar. V, PARA. 16. ] Pintail.—In the daytime they frequent large lakes and jhils and rest in the centre of wide, comparatively open pieces of water, shunning such as have thick cover of reeds or similar heavy jungle, yet resorting always to those which shave the surface covered with lilies and the smaller water plants, amongst which they can lie well concealed, yet able to discern at once the approach of anything to their vicinity. During the night they do not leave their quarters till very late—they visit the smaller jhils and tanks, the rushy banks of the nullahs and canals and similar places, where they feed, but the first glimmer of dawn finds them on the wing once more en route to the larger waters. Big rivers they do not seem to like. Small rivers, if of clear and quick-running waters, are no more pleasing to the Pintail; bat small creeks of almost still water and canals which have vegetation about them, are visited for the purpose of food, and occasionally a flock may be put up from such places in the daytime. (Stuart-Baker.) Garganey.— The Garganey haunts almost any kind of water, says Stucrt-Baker, not, as a rule, frequenting small, quick-running streams or small, clean, tanks and ponds, and being specially partial to wide stretches of fen or bheel well covered over their greater extent with weeds yet having fairly extensive patches of clear water dotted here and there over their surface. During the day they keep almost entirely to the larger sheets of water or so, sometimes to the larger rivers, such as Indus, Ganges, ete., where they float in the centre in dense, closely- packed masses. They feed in the smaller tanks and jhils and also in the paddy-fields and on various young land- crops. Shoveller.—As regards its haunts, says Stuart-Baker, they are everywhere and anywhere, but it does not care for open deep water and prefers small creeks, ponds, jhils and tanks which are covered with vegetation, and also stretches of shallow water with plentiful cover and a muddy bottom. At the same time I fave shot them in the very centre of large, open bhee/s and once on a small hill stream. To the shores they stick, says Hume, into the open water they never seem to struggle by choice ; and, if you watch them, they are for the most part, either dozing on the brink or paddling slowly in the shadows with their entire bills and more or less of their heads under water, their heads working from side to side all the while like a Flamingo’s- or Spoonbill’s. Comment- ing on this, Stuart-Baker says he has seen the Shoveller in open water, but this only rarely and only during the heat of the day when the birds wish to sleep, |CHar. V, ; PARA. 16, | 24 Marbled Duck.—Its favourite haunts, says Hume, in Sind were broads thickly grown with rush in which it fed and sported, comparatively seldom showing itself in the open water, Red-crested Pochard.—They are open-water birds by choice, frequenting large sheets of water unobstructed by surface-weeds, reeds, or water-plants, except about the shores or banks. Of course, where they are most common, a few birds may be met with in any kind of water, but it is rare for any large flock to be found on vegetation- covered swamps, small dirty jhils, ete, (Stuart-Baker.) The Pochar’,—There is practically no kind of water, notes Stuart-Baker, that they will not visit sometimes in greater or smaller numbers, but, preferentially, they leave alone shallow jhils and waters and also such as have the vegetation everywhere dense; on the other hand they do not care for quite open water without vegetation of any kind whatever, White-eyed Duck.—The kind of water preferred by the Pochard is also that which forms the favourite resort of the Whiteeyed Pochard, says Stuart-Baker. I have, however, he continues, found them in all and any sort of water. Where there are wide stretches of ater, clear here and there in patches, but for the most p rt covered with water-plants, and with shores thickly co. ‘red with weeds, ete., the Whiteeye assembles in vast numbers, but not in very large flocks. Tufted Duck —Kssentially requires, says Stuart-Baker open water and in preference resorts to wide expanses of water of some considerable depth in the centre :hough more or less weed and rush overgrown round the shores. Not often to be found on open tanks whose shores are free of jungle, nor on rivers, except where these debouch into the Plains and the duck are entering or leaving India. SUMMARY, KEY 3. A.— Ubiquitous. Gadwall, * Common Teal. B.— Birds of the Open, Bright Water. Red crested Pochard. C.—Birds of the Larger Waters. * Mallard (fairly ubiquitous). Wigeon (likes turfy banks), Pintail (doesn’t like deep cover). * Garganey (often any kind of water). * Note.—Found also on rivers. bo Or PARAS. 16 & 17 Marbled Duck (rush covered swamps). The Pochard White-eyed Duck Tufted Duck (requires cover on banks), } (often any kind of water). D.—-Birds of the Small Waters. * Spotbill (likes much high cover). Shoveller (often any kind of water, bar rivers ; sticks to the shores). CHAPTER VI. Appearance. 17. How far is it possible to identify a bird by its general appearance in the air ata distance? Some very rough general indications are given in Key 4 at the end of this “Chapter. If the most distinctive species are noted and remembered, the less conspicuous will be placed, with practice, later, Reference may be made to the other Keys and paragraphs on Size, Speed and Tricks of Flight but, above all, to that on Birds which show much White, Again, it may be said, it is the black-and-white present- ment that the eye gets at a distance; colours, no matter how vivid close at hand, are not distinguished a long way off. Some or all of the points given in the Keys, etc., will, it is hoped, stick in the memory and the bird be identified. If shape and the presence of much white are to be the main guides, four of the large Duck are fairly un- mistakeable, viz., the Spotbill, with his long neck and uniform grey colour; the Mallard, with his heavy build and (in full plumage) green head and white collar; the Shoveller, with his light build, big, mis-shapen bill and (in full plumage) white breast; and, lastly, the Red-crested Pochard, a bird lightly built for a Pochard, with a crest that makes his head look big, and with white on the wings and flanks, Among the Duck of medium size, the Wigeon has white on the wings and abdomen, while the Tufted Duck, a compact tubby little fellow, has a vivid contrast in his black head, throat and upper-breast and his whit2 abdomen and flanks, his wings also being marked with white. Of the small Duck, the White-eye is the most conspicuous. He too is dark (rusty-red) and white contrasted below—head and throat dark and breast white— and he has white on his wings. As a class, the Diving Ducks are, and look, more meena built than the True Dueks, * Note .—Tound ae on rivers. [Cuars. V & VI, General appearance in flight. (Key 4.) _ [Cuars. VI & VIL, 26 PARAS. 17 & 18.] Size. (Key 5.) On the water, although the point hardly comes within the scope of this work, the appearance of some Ducks is worth noting. The Pintail, owing to his slender build, long arching neck and raised tail, looks more taking afloat than any other species. The Gadwall swims lightly, more so than the Mallard, The Mallard onthe water inclines his tail a good deal upwards, Both tie Pochard and the Tufted Duck swim deep, the former particularly so with an appearance of being down at the stern. Something of the carriage of the birds on the water may be gathered from the Plates in these articles, in which are shown many of the species dealt with inthis book besides a few others that are not. SUMMARY, KEY 4. A —LArGE Duck. Spotbill.—Long neck and uniform grey plumage. Muliard.—Burly in appearance ; male in full plumage has green neck and white collar. Shoveller.—Spatula-shaped bill; white breast. Lightly built. Red-crested Pochard.—Crested head; white on wings and flanks. More lightly built than Pochards in general. B.—MEDIUM-SIZED DUCK. Wigeorn,.—White on wings and abdomen. Tufted Duck—-White on wings, abdomen and flanks ; black of head, throat and upper breast contrasts with white of abdomen. Very compact and tubby. C. SMALL Duck White-eyed Duck. “White on wings and abdomen; white of abdomen. contrasts with rusty-red of head and throat. The smallest’ of all the Pochards. CHAPTER VII. Size. 18, Size, or length (Col. 5, Key land Key 5) is the distance from the tip of the bill to the end of the longest tail-feather. The size adopted is the maximum given in the Fauna, for it sometimes happens that the specimens from which observations are there taken differ considerably, e.g., the length of the Pintail is given as 22 to 29 inches, Most females are smaller in the Duck tribe than males, Class C of Key 5, “Birds under 16 Inches in Length” includes, not only the Teal, but the White-eyed Duck, which is only as large as the Garganey. This should not lead the reader to believe that there is any generic affinity, between the White- -eye, Which is a Pochar d, and the Teals vhich are True Ducks of small size, (See Chapter V.) —— — wo; LOW. i 4 » J COLOURATION FROM I] DATE I. P b | [VA p v4 ) "requid = a a ae ae COLOURATION FROM BELOW. Pox oe ‘eal. r Garganey Red-crested Pochard (female \ kk. Marbled Duc COLOURATION FROM BELOW. Pratn III. Pochard. The Tutted Duck. White-eyed Duck. : on as pe See UY es eat fy hang be a | [Cuars. VII & VIII, 27 PARAS. 18 & 19.] KEY 5. The division is into 3 classes, viz.— A.—farge.—20 inches in length and over. B,—Medium.—16 inches and over. C.—Smal/.—Under 16 inches. A.—Large. Spotbill. Pintail. Mallard. | Shoveller. Gadwall. Red-erested Pochard. B.—Medium. Wigeon. | The Pochard. Marbled Duck. Tufted Duck, C.—Small. Common Teal. | Garganey Teal. White-eyed Duck, CHAPTER VIII. Colouration, 19, Colouration isa very fallible guide, If one only ae eoe rom below. had fully plumaged males to deal with, there would be little (Key 6.) diificulty. Most of the Ducks however, even adults, only put on their bright colours by about the end of February (see farther on), The chief description of the colouration throughout is that as seen from below, an idea which, it is believed, Mr. C. H, Donald in his ‘‘ Raptores of the Panjab” was the first to develop. That from underneath, at any rate, is the usual view presented by the bird in the cir- cumstances in which this book mainly aims at describing him. Where the general plumage is dealt with, it will be that of the adult male in full dress. If once a thorough acquaintance is gained with the males, identification of the females is not difficult. In describing colours and patterns, only the simplest words have been used, Old favourites of the Bird Books, such as ‘‘cinereous” and ‘* vermiculated,’ have been avoided, not that we need scoft ai, them, since every scientific book requires its own exact, technical language. This treatise does not profess to be scientific, only to put some rough, es guides of various kinds within the reach of the practica sportsman, 20 N = — a — D> ~ rt ao 4 =e aa ~~ “sttmmb ‘sgods UAMOIg- S915 udeda1s eq pue uisava gaddn | uaoiqg yy "yoRyq pa *MOTOq ‘yoryq pure Fivp pvoig yim ‘Kerg | ey Azjng -[poued ‘agry | soyTep “oF AA, WMOTQ pepo | "FLAX pervor]s ‘UMOIG | *“1ayIVp sj[mb pue ursieu | *MOTSq geddn ygim ‘Aary] ‘oq =| Aouad og yng | A915 ‘aay AA | Od A aI AL | UMOIG 0F Wovpg "AVI AL puB *paryoeds | yoRtTq = pat ‘pepyoods | feis syaoao0 ‘fain ‘oq |-yoeds «jouty OIL | ‘p 91 N O[OD-sULM Ystumorg "014 ‘pepsoeds : -u90 egTy A Yas Aor | * al yortq ery aj1yM ystfory |} poyods ‘ysy1y Ay | pueq-eXe neers Yt ‘ped [Inq ‘IeYIVp salvu “yov{q pel[sjoeds | -1ad yo sdty ‘ogy Ay | ‘oq (SLU MOL yorlq ystheay | ATploq aiNapeg) |} PC ce * RB ; Sutm 1apuy | 11m3 aaMor] SyuBi if | maemo pqy qsvaig qeory, poy] ——E | "9 AUS [vey Aoursary *) yreqarg °9 woasIM “G [vol uomMIMO) ‘fF TRAPPED *E plv(yyenl “% triqaodg ‘1 ‘Palg jo ewey [Cuar. VIII, PARA. 19.] cor) NI ‘ssorpun 04UtT oS 09 savaddv JaAON—'ALON x Sa ne nn aaa. iL ‘SULOABUL IOyITp YIM ‘oy M ‘uldiem Aeis = ygim = ‘ag ‘gis sjjinb pur UISIVU JAMO] ‘SILT AK AoiS eBuray 190] pue stjinb Arend aagno) =ATuO fag AA | re ord O43 MA ‘O(| UMOIG -ysayo Aq | ‘yng yIva Aary Ott AN oyry M YSstuMoIg od Koay MOO, TOyYS TT “oVg | 100 ay AA | on0 youlq 0} UMoIg | ace Aaas ystyorl g cr oe youl eq UuUyseyo zLe(y ynujssyy) > o ¢ aSan ‘snodSpurg & JO YI oyxl] Ady IRA ‘polo pae po[qavuM “oaoqy JoxIVp ‘ysifeiS-[[Np Wasofiun asvuny dq ‘Koad stjtnb Ieyno pur uisIeUl ABVMOT PBOIG B ‘OFLU AA Youlg qnuysel[9 qnuyseyo |“ yoRv[q wae Son Os G yong, peas él yong peXe-aytM “x30 panyoog PUL ‘TT ‘pany -00qg poejses0-peu ‘OT * yond pelqaeW 6 IT[PAOUS *R [Cuav VIII, para, 20.] 30 Moulting and change of Coloura- tion. 20. Moulting and change of colouration in the Ducks are both remarkable, and the two things require to be distinguished from one another. Colouration depends both on sex and age. Females are generally much duller than males. Young males, after pass- ing from the downy stage, assume the plumage of the adult female, They then, subject to what is said about moult below, ‘commence to assume the plumage of the drake, and resemble him closely by the end of the first winter ; but they do not acquire the mature, brilliant plumage of the perfectly adult drake till about the end of the third year.” In the matter of the moulting of the Ducks, the fact is to be grasped that, whereas the females of all Ducks and the males of the resident species here dealt with have a single moult only, viz., the usual autumn change, the males of all the migratory species undergo a double moult, i.e., the usual autumn change plus a special post nuptial one. ‘The males” in fact “pass through a lengthened operation lasting probably four months. As soon as the female has commenced incubation, the drakes retire and Hock together in the quietest spots they can find. They there commence a moult of the feathers of the head, neck and body and emerge from this operation in a plumage which very closely resembles that of the female. As soon as this has been accomplished, the drakes moult their quills. They then cast the plumages of the head, neck and body again, and resume their ordinary brilliant male plumage.” To the above account, which is that of Oates in his Game Birds of India, it is only necessary to add that the resumption is very gradual, for while he states that ‘drakes in the plumage of the female, or in post- uuptial plumage......... are very seldom seen or _ shot,” drakes in partial undress are of course to be met with for the greater portion of the early shooting season. ‘ The feathers of the wing,” writes Pycraft, “are the first to be renewed, next those of the flanks and under-parts, then those of the lower part of the neck and back, and finally of the headand neck, the new feathers appearing one or two at a time among those of the plumage which is being replaced, not in uniformly affected patches.” The accompanying photos show the upper and lower sides of a specimen of a male Mallard and a male Wigeon, both shot early in November. The following points should be noted, viz. :— In the Mallard—the dark green of the head is a mask only and does not cover the whole head and neck as far as the white collar, as in the mature bird. The white collar is indistinct and does not run right round the back of the neck. The back and -under-parts are darker than in the mature specimens. There were no curled feathers in the tail. \ . - OF COLOURATION . 4 +E 0,) “C CHA! AND % r MOULTIN( *(aaddn) uoast AM 8AN{VUIUT] ‘(HOMOT) UOOST AL ONG BUTT ») ‘(aaddn) pagypeyy oangeuwy “(TOMOT) PALT[V]Y oNyeurUury (See para. -_ n J PERT t ae Ae Py ‘ioe ve " ae oF, Sey - . > he als i 7 31 [Cuav. VIII, PARAS. 20, 21 & 22.] In the Wiaeon—the colours in the cream blaze and chestnut head are not bright. There are no white shoulder patches and no white on the lower back, as in the mature bird. 21. Only two of the thirteen species dealt with have the flanks, or sides of the body, and the lower plumage of one uniform colour, viz., the Spotbill and the Marbled Duck; in the rest, whether True or Diving Ducks, the colouring of these respective portions is different. All the species of True Duck treated have in the male the under tail-coverts black except the Garganey ; so have the Spotbill and the Tufted Duck. Fen Y af. I. Having lower plumage and si es of body of one uniform colour throughout.— Spotbill. Marbled Duck. II, Having lower plumage and sides of body differ- ent.—- All the True Ducks except the Marbled Duck. The Pochards. I. Having the under tail-coverts black (in _ the Male) — All the True Ducks (except the Garganey Teal). TI. Having the tuil-coverts barred across.— Marbled Duck. 22. Oates, who examined a large number of Ducks, from all parts of the world and not the Indian ones only, has pointed out how important a clue to the determina- tion of Water Fowl is the pattern of the primaries*. All the resident Ducks, he says, and those Ducks the migrations of which are very limited or partial, have the primaries wnéform without a pattern, eg., in the case of those birds with which we are here concern- ed, the Spotbill has the primaries nearly uniformly blackish and the Marbled Duck grey. All the highly migratory and rapid-ilying Ducks have the primaries with the outer web of a very dare colour and the inner web of a drab eolour with a dark tip, e.g., for our purposes, all the True Ducks. * The “ !’rimaries’’ are the firat ten or eleven quills of the wing, counting from the tip inwards, the first very minute and difficult to discover, They arise from the finger-joints (phalanges) and palm (metacarpus). Index colouring of lower plumage, flanks and under tail-coverts. (Key 7.) Classification according to pattern of the primary feathers. (Key 8.) | CHAP. VIL, 39 PARAS. 22 & 23. | Similarity or dissimilarity of the sexes in colouring. (Key 9). The Pochards (and another class of Ducks | with which we are not concerned) have the outer primaries similar to those of the True Dacks but the duner primaries of the same white or pale colour as the speculum, but tipped with dusku. The Scaup Ducks, in which Oates includes one ot the species, viz., the Tufted Duck, treated in this book ; ‘‘have the primaries very similar to those of the Pochards, bat the inner ones, instead of being white or of a pale colour on both webs, have only the outer web white or of a pale colour, the inner web being dark.” KEY 8. 1, Primaries uniform without a pattern.— Spotbill (Resident, or of limited migration). Marbled Duck. 11, Primaries with outer web of very dark colour and inner web of a dusky colour with dark tip.— All the True Ducks—Highly-migratory and rapid- flying. IIT. Outer primaries as in IT above, but inner pri- maries of same white or pale colour as speculum but tipped with dusky.— All the Diving Ducks. Exception.—The Tufted Duck, called by some a Scaup Duck, which has inner primaries with outer web white or much paler than the inner. 23. Among the surface-feeding Ducks, three species are alike in the colouring of the sexes, viz., the Spotbill, the Gadwall and the Marbled Duck, while all the rest are unlike. The Diving Ducks have the sexes dissimilar, but there is not the broad difference that the True Ducks show, where nature, while endowing the males with brilliant colours, has left the females drab and incon- spicuous by comparison. The most striking examples of the latter phenomenon among the Ducks treated are the Mallard, the Common Teal, the Wigeon, the Shoveller and the Red-crested Pochard. KEY 9Q. I. Sexes alike, or nearly alike.— Spothill. | Gadwall. Marbled Duck. Il. Sexes dissimilar.— The rest. Nore.—The Diving Ducks show however rather less difference between the Sexes than most surface-feeders do BIRDS THAT SHOW MUCH WHITE WHEN THEY FLY (upper view.) Prats I. Gadwall. Spotbill. Pintail. Wigeon,. BIRDS THAT SHOW MUCH WHITE WHEN THEY FLY. Phare IL, Red crested Pochard (female), Shoveller. White eyed Duck. The Pochard. [Crav. VIII, non oon PARA. 24,] 24, All the birds, among the species treated of, that piras that show much white when they fly are noted, with details, in show much Key 10. This tell-tale white contrasting with a darker es eee shade is to the writer's mind a helpful indication, as it is (Key 10.) the first thing to catch the eye at a distance when colours : are indistinguishable. Those birds which are most conspicuous in the matter of white about the body are the Tufted Duck, the lower half of whose lower plumage is white, while the rest, as well as the upper, is black ; the Shoveller, who has a white breast contrasting well, in full plumage, with a dark green head ; the Pintail with white abdomen, breast and neck, and the Pochard, the whole of whose body, upper and lower, except for a chestnut head and dark breast, is very pale grey. The Wigeon also shows distinct white in places on the body. Birds showing much white on the upper side of the wings are the Tufted Duck again, the Red-crested Pochard, the Gadwall and the White eyed Duck. The Spotbill has a V-shaped lar across either wing following the contour of the body, KEY 10. NotE,—W—On the upper wings. A—On the abdomen. B—On the breast. F—On the flanks, Spotbill—W (white outer webs and two secondaries make a V-shaped bar across the back). Gadwall—-W (white bar on secondaries) and A (whitish), Common Teal—A. Wigeon—W (white shoulders) and A. Pintail—A, B and Neck. Garganey Teal—A (grey W and F). Shoveller—B. Red-crested Pochard—-W (white on shoulders, second- aries and inner primaries) and F. The Pochard—A (speckled white). White-eyed Duck—-W (white on secondaries and inner primaries) and B, . Tufted Duck—W (white secondaries), A and F. 2 [CHar. IX, 34 PARA. Speed. (Key 11.) 25,] CHAPTER IX. Flight. In the Remarks on Individual Species below will be found the observations of well-known ornithologists about the relative speed of the various kinds of Dacks. To the man with the mathematical mind, these will appear more or less all mere rule of thumb. It will convey little to him that the experts mostly agree that the Pintail is the fastest bird of all; he will want to know exactly what that means and he will fasten with avidity on Macgillivray’s dictum that the velocity of the Mallard is ‘ probably quite a hundred miles an hour.” What is known, in actual accurate figures, abcut the speed of the Duck tribe, or of birds generally ? Had Macgillivray anything to go upon in making his estimate ? To the latter question the answer is doubtless in the negative. The use of the word ‘“ probably ” seems to give the case way. To the discussion of the former question let us bring a few modern instances. Homing-pigeons are said to have reached an authenticated speed of 60 miles an hour and have maintained a speed of fifty-five miles an hour for four hours in succession, but this is very excep- tional even for these highly specialised our selected birds. Dr. Hankin, in his book ‘Animal Flight,” finds that Vultures, whom no one would place among the swiftest of the birds of prey, reach“a speed in oliding with flexed wings of 26 metres per second, or, say, “slightly below 60 miles an hour. On the other hand there seems to be a tendency onthe part of the layman to exaggerate bird speeds. Elaborate tests made by the “F ield” in 1887 gave the following as the speeds, in the open, of the birds named, vig.— Pigeon, 25:8 to 27-0 miles per hour, Pheasants, 27:0 ,,°381 “,, ” Panriradges, 2126 ., 32:1)". 5, - and it was remarked that these velocities might fairly be taken as the speed of birds rising to the gun and also of driven game when not aided by any wind. Data published in the bid by Col. Meinhertzhagen, who took observations of the flight of birds in connection with his anti-aircraft duties during the War, show that the steady flight of the smaller Passeres varies from 20 to 40, and that of the Waders from 40 to 50 miles an hour. The ammunition makers work to an average speed of about 40 miles an hour, though they no doubt expect the man behind the gun to increase his forward allowance if he sees tbat he is up against something that is largely exceed- ing that pace. The rates stated by him for steaily flight would. Col. Meinhertzhagen remarks, be accelerated oreatly ee 25 |CHar, IX, PARA. 25. | for Timited times on special occasions, as when a bird is frightened by an enemy or when it is pouncing on its prey. It may be added that “ flex-glding,” as Dr. Hankin ealls it, is not necessarily by any means the most rapid means of flight for all birds. The Peregrine, at top speed, flaps its wings in furious, incessant beats. The flight of Duck is always of the flapping variety without gliding or indulations. This is because of the heaviness of their ‘‘loading,” a convenient formula used to measure and compare the weight lifted by birds per unit of supporting area. ‘*If” writes Hankin, ‘the total area of the two wings taken together were found to be 10 sq. ft. and if the weight of the bird were 20 lbs., then the loading would be 2 Ibs. per sq. feet.” Where the tail is large (as it.is ‘not in the Ducks), it should be included as well as the wings in the total supporting area. A comparison of the Duck tribe in this matter with some other birds is interesting, showing, as it does, that the Ducks have to lift a heavier weight even than the Vultures. — Loading in Bird. lbs. per sq. ft. The Duck tribe (average)y .. e ot 2:28 The Kite (Wilvus govinda) .. an _ as ‘DD The Scavenger Vulture (Neophron gingianus) Ke ‘87 The White-backed Vulture (Pseudogyps bengalensis) 1-13 The Black Vulture (Otogyps calvus) ois 1:23 The Adjutant (Zeptoptilus dubius) aes ne 154 Take it, however, as a basis of discussion that the ordinary speed of the average-paced Duck, say when flighting or not alarmed, is forty miles per hour, For this speed the ammunition-makers lay down, for practical purposes, an allowance of a foot for every five yards of range, or eight feet at forty yards. Now, in the cir- cumstance specially considered in this book, viz., shooting at birds driven from butt to butt by firing and kept away from distant harbourage by bombing or other means, it is obvious that a velocity much in advance of the average 40 miles an hour will often be attained, There. is also the possibility of a following wind from the “ light breeze” of 14 and the “steady breeze ” of 21, to the “ gale ” of 40 miles per hour, to be reckoned with, the whole velocity of which * Reprinted from ‘* Animal Flight’? by permission of lliffe and Sons Limited. + From Maxim’s ‘ Natural and Artificial Flight,” as quoted by Hankin. |Cuav. IX, PARA. 25. } 36 may be added to that attained by the bird. Very high rates of speed will not however be observed universally as, if the birds are not too wild, some of them will slow down occasionally in the neighbourhood of one or other of the butts in search of cover or when not unduly hustled. One thing is certain and that is that every rate of speed and every kind of behaviour will be exhibited. The hard thinker who reduces every shot to a delicate mathematical problem will have his work cut out to adjust his scientific notions of shot-gun ballistics to each particular case. Best of all will be the man who, having laid up in his inner subconsciousness certain simple lessons on the subject, adds them to a sound practical knowledge of the habits of even the individual species he has to deal with, and has them at his command so that brain, eye and muscles all co-ordinate to produce the required effect. Good shooting is largely a matter of instinct. The instinct is of course a trained one, but a happy result seldom admits of analysis, You knew you had done the right thing, even before the bird fell, and yet you cannot explain it. The old Scotch keeper in Punch who had been holding a butt with great credit in a Grouse drive, asked by a novice to expound how he did it, was only able to say that he “put it about their heads as they came in and about their tails as they went away ”’—sound enough as a statement of fact, but defective as an expla- nation of causation, i) In the Key (No. 11) an attempt is made to fix an order of merit for the Ducks in the matter of speed, As said above, the Pintail is probably in a class by himself; the next fastest probably are the Common Teal, Gadwall and Tufted Duck. All the remainder may be lumped together; there is not much to choose in speed between them and the order, within this class, does not profess to be strictly one of merit. NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. Spotbill—F ly swiftly when fairly off (Outes). In every sense one of the finest and most sporting of our Duck. (Stwart-Baker). . Mallavd.—F¥light very rapid and powerful (Seebohm), When in full flight, their velocity is great, being probably quite.a hundred mile anhour. (Macgillivray). ~Gadwa |.—When you have got within shot, . says Stuart-Baker, the Gadwall proves a thoroughly sporting bird ; in full flight he is even faster than the Mallard. ~-- Common Teal.—On the wing they are very swift. 4 I doubt, says. Hume, if they are swifter than the Pintail, but they are more nimble and will often escape a Peregrine when the Pintail would assuredly have been | oF (|Cuap. LX, PARA. 20. | victimised. They turn and twist with a rapidity second only to the Cotton Teal. Yields to no other Duck in the speed of his flight. (Stuart-Baker’. Wigeon.—Their flight is swift and powerful, says Hume, but not equal to that of the Pintail, On the wing they are certainly not as fast as either the Garganey or Common Teal. (Stuart-Buker). Pintail.—tTheir flight, says Hume and Stuart- Baker, is exceedingly swift, probably faster than that of any other duck, and is very easily recognisable, Garganey.—Their flight, agree Hume and Stuart- Baker, is little if at all inferior to that of the Common Teal. Shoveller.—F ly with very great rapidity, says Hume, when well on the wing, in this respect quite equalling the Mallard, Marbled Duck.—Flight less rapid than that of the Common Teal and Garganey. (//ume). Red-crested Pochard.—They are strong flyers and go at a good pace. (Stuart-Baker). The Pochard.—Their powers of flight, says Stuart- Baker, are not equal to those of swimming and diving; once on the wing, they go away at a good pace. White eyed Duck.—-When on the wing, savs Hume, tre flight of this species if fairly, but by no means very, rapid, Tujted Duck.—This species, writes Hume, has, I. think, an easier, smoother and more rapid flight than most of the other Pochards. When frightened, says Stuart-Baker, it flies at a great pace, nearly equalling the Pintail and exceeding most other ducks, SUMMARY, KBY 11. Four classes may be made, viz.— A,.—Very Fast. B.—Medium Fast. C.—Fast. A.—Very Fast. Pintail. B.—Medium Fast. Common Teal. | Gadwall. Tufted Dueck. 0. — Hast: Mallard. Wigeon. Spotbill. Marbled Duck. Shoveller. | Red-erested Pochard. Garganey Teal, | The Pochard. White-eyed Duck, * NoTE.—There is not much to choose_iIn speed between the bird in Class C, and the order is not strictly one of merit. |CHap. IX, PARA. 26. | 38 Tricks of Flight. (Key 12.) 26. Apart from the general interest of the subject at the present day, the phenomena of flight are worth the study of the sportsman who wishes to shoot with success, One would like to see an analysis of the flight of the Duck tribe by an expert on bird aviation like Dr. Hankin, but, unfortunately, his careful and scientific observations are mainly confined to the birds of prey. It is interesting to find him poking fun, ina book in which this is almost the only departure from serious business, at’ Hume for explaining the mystery of soaring flight by “ levitation.” Mr. Hankin does not seem to know Hume, at any rate under the initials A.O, H. The gteat Ornithologist was no doubt better at stating facts than expounding causation. Any how, he was hard to beat as an observer, and the Individual Notes in this paragraph alone are sufficient to vindicate him in this aspect. Remarks on the tricks of the various species will be found below ; in general it seems only necessary to say that the True Ducks differ very conspicuously from the Diving Ducks when on the wing, and this is the point which should first be seized. ‘The flight of the latter is irregular as compared with that of the former. The pinions of the Diving Ducks beat faster, because more exertion is required to sustain and project their heavier bodies; they keep lower and are not to be seen so much against the sky ; their light is hurried and anxious ; they never wheel with the grace and certainty of Teal, but fly straight with all haste to the place which they appearto have chosen.” (Sir Ralph Payne-Gallway). Among the True Ducks, the palm for difficulty and general sporting characteristics must be given to the familiar little Common Teal. Even the beginner will be able to hit a party of them flying with his first barrel, but he will find the second a very different proposition, At the impact of the sound wave the whole lot twist away like lightning, altering their elevation and generally behaving in a way that takes one’s breath away at first. The Pintail is the fastest of the Duck tribe, but he doesn’t give one much opportunity or many shots, Of the remaining commoner Ducks, the Mallard and the Gadwall are fine fliers, the latter perhaps the more difficult to hit of the two, REMARKS ON: INDIVIDUAL SPECIES, Spotbill.—The Spotbill, ‘says Stuart-Baker, is in every sense of the word one of the finest and most game of our duck. Even larger onan average than the Mallard, it fully rivals that bird for the table and is, I think, more uniform in its good condition; this no doubt is due to the fact that it has not to*overtax its strength in long migrations, I 39 (Crap. IX, PARA. 26, | Mallard.—When disturbed from the water, they soon eet fairly on the wing and fly straight away, slowly wheel- ing round, if necessary, so as to get up wind; but, as they rise from the surface, the direction of their flight forms a very small angle at first with the direction of the water and this is also the ease when they alight. As they approach the water, they skim with expanded wings and drop feet-first perpendicular into it, with depressed tail and fluttering wings. (Seelohm.) Gadwall.—As many writers have observed, reminds one much of the Tealin the manner of flying. (Stuart-Baker.) Common Teal.—Flight rapid and_ flexible, says Hume (if I may coin an expression to represent the extreme facility with which the species turns and twists in the air). They have a habit after being flushed of suddenly dropping again which I have not noticed in our other Ducks. Everbody must have noticed the clever way in which the survivors will suddenly alter their elevation by several feet to the impact of the sound wave of the first barrel and before the second can be loosed off. In open waters, such as rivers, etc., and when on the wing, saus Stuart-Baker, Teal often fly bunched and close together and form shots which much encourage the bad habit of shooting into the brown, quite small flocks often providing from half a dozen to a dozen teal toa couple of barrels of an ordinary smoothbore. Of: course, even into the brown one must hold fairly straight. Wigeon.—Seems to have no particular tricks of flight. _ Pintail.—Darts by at more than railway speed, conspicuous by his long, pointed tail, long neck and white breast. (Hume.) Garganey Teal.—Vhough in fight more direct, says Stuart-Baker, agreeing with Hume, the flocks seldom indulge in the swift dodgings and swervings of the Common Teal. ‘Shooting over the vast Jessore bheels in boats which went in a thinly scattered line through them,” he aids, the difference between the flight of the two species was wellshown. The Garganeys rose far ahead, swept round but once in a wide semi-circle and then went straight ahead, whereas the Common Teal often dodged in and out down the whole line, circled about two, three or more times, and then disappeared but often only to settle half a mile or so further on.” ‘When flying,” he adds ‘“ they do not struggle much, adhering very much to the dense closely-packed masses in which they rest during the day ” Shoveller.—They fly well; not so boldly perhaps as other Ducks, but not so low as the Drivers. (Sir Ralph payne-Gallway.) |Crar. 1x a" PARAS, 26 & 27,] 40 Manner of rising when Surprised. (Key 13.) Marbled Duch.—The flight of this species, though Teal-like, wrote Hume, is less rapid and flexible than that of the Common Teal. It more nearly resembles that of the Garganey, but is less powerful and less rapid than that of this latter species. There is something of the Gadwall in it, but it wants the ease of this. It flies mach lower too and, as already mentioned, much more readily resettles after being disturbed. Red-crested Pochard.\ No special remarks. All have The Pochaea, | the general features of Po- White-eyed Duck ‘ chard flight noted in the J main text of the paragraph. Tufted Duck.—F light easier and smoother than most of the other Pochards, (Hume). SUMMARY, KEY 12. Mallard.—Rises with a bound ata very small angle to the water and, dropping skims with extended, fluttering wings, alighting feet-first. Gadwall.—F light very rapid, easy and Teal-like. Common Teal.—¥ light very rapid, and flexible. Alters elevation with great rapidity at the impact of the sound wave of the first barrel. Often fiy very bunched. Pintail,—Dashing, Garganey.—F ly closely packed. Marbled Duck.—F light Teal-like, but less flexible, powerful and rapid. Has something of the Gadwall in it, but wants its ease, * Red-crested Pochard,.—* light strong and heavy. straight forward flight. 27, One point about the flight of Duck, though not one which directly concerns the sportsman quietly placed in a butt, is the comparative speed with which the different species are able to rise from the water and get wader way. One is not however always shooting from a butt; one is often stalking birds on the water for a first shot; and the point dealt with in this paragraph has a direct bearing on the wing-power of the bird. Hume is fullof informa- tion on the subject. firstly, he did not despise netting and the bird that gets up perpendicularly and rapidly must be flushed close to the standing net, or he will clear it. Secondly to the punt-gunner, as he was, the species make all the difference as to whether you should get a sitting shot or one just as the birds rise. ‘Some draw together and rise en masse, and these should only be taken when afoot above water ; others, though drawing together, *Note.—Jhe flight of all the Pochards is more hurried and irre- ieee and at less height, but more direct, than that of the True Ducks. "HIS UO sopvur OXY PUB qe] UO SOpVIaF OG ‘8 .IRITRY Aj [Cirap. Lx, PARA. 27. rise in succession, and these are best fired at just before they rise. Others, again, separate on ay suspicion of danger, and at these a shot, however long, at the first sign that they are on the gui vive is most likely to tell.” The quickest birds off the water, probably, are the Gads-all, Mallard, Garganey and Tufted Duck, and the Spotbill, Shoveller and Marbled Duck are the slowest. The Pochards are bad risers, owing to the backward position of their feet, and they make a loud splashing noise when they rise in large numbers. NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. Spotbill.—Rise rather heavily, says Hume, and are as easy to shoot as old hens when they first fuster up out of the reeds, Mallard.—On being surprised, says Macgillivray, whether on shore or water, they spring up at once with a bound, rise obliquely with a bound and fly off with speed. Gaduall,—About the Gadwall, Hume, who has just mentioned the Grey Duck (Spotbill) and Mallard in this order says “ Tike the former, they spring up from land and water at a rather sharp angle and usually rise thus for twenty yards before sweeping off on a horizontal course” “Wormer” is surely a slip for “latter,” as Hume is practicaliy reproducing in slightly different language Macgillivray’s remarks about the Mallard. Wiyeon.—They spring up more readily than the Pintail from the water or the ground and more per- pendicularly than those, in fact in these respects they are almost equal to the Gadwall. (Hume.) Wigeon.—Hume says they are as quick in rising as the Gadwall, writes Stuart-Baker. Ishould have given the palm to the Gadwall for quickness in getting off the water, but once up the Wigeon is quite as fast in getting away. Pintail.—They rise less easily says Hume, and at a lower angle than Mallard and Gadwall. Getting off the water, writes Stuart-Baker, they are less quick than some ducks, “skittering” along the surface for a few feet; they rise less abruptly also, but, once on the wing, they show to the greatest advantage. Garganey.—The Garganey, Stuart-Baker (confirming Hume) notes, rise quicker off the water than the Common Teal, getting up obliquely and is quicker away. Shovelier.—They rise heavily and slowly. (Hume). Macblet Duck.—Their tendency in rising is rather Coot-like than Duck-like. (Hume. Redt-crested Pochard.—They are very slow in get- ting off the water, noles Stuart-Baker, and take some time to get their pace up. 8 PARAS. 27 & 28.,] Regular formations in flight. Key 14) [CHar. Tx. 42 The Pochard.—Once on the wing, writes Stuart- Baker, they go away at a good pace, but they are slow off the water and awkward as well. White-eyed Duck.—They rise, says Hume, with some little difficulty. If flushed from water, they strike it repeatedly with their feet, like Coots, but in a less exaggerated style. Rising out of the reeds, they fluster up and go off much like Partridges with a low, straight, flight, often dropping suddenly, almost Quail-like, after a short flight. Rises very obliquely, says Stuart-Baker, nor does it rise high when well on the wing but generally flies within a few yards of the surface of the water, getting on consider- able pace when once fairly away. Tufted Duck—Just as expert, writes Stuart-Baker, as are the rest of the Pochards on or in the water, it excels tLe majority of these in getting away from it. Jt rises with less fluster, noise and splashing than is caused by the rising of other Poéhards, and also gets off the water more quickly and gets more quickly into its stride. KEY, ts: A.—(Quick at gettin, off the Water.— Mallard. Garganey Teal Gadwall. | Tufted Diack. B.—Medium at yetting off the Water.— Wigeon. | Pintail. C.—Slow at getting off the Water.— All the Pochards, Spotbill. Shoveller. Marbled Duck. The flight shooter and the field naturalist see the Duck tribe in the formations which they adopt for regular, systematic flight for long distances. The man ina drive will not have opportunity to observe this interesting phenomenon, since birds under fire or merely doing short journeys from one jhi/ to another by day do not take any particular formation: Everyone however will have seen some time or other, and in particular at the season of migration, how the Ducks tend to fly in V-shape, Y-shape or in “line.” Ducks are not alone in this respect. Cranes, Storks, Geese, c-rtain sea-birds and certain Waders do the same. But is it correct to say the formation is “line”? Probably, 11 all cases it will be found that the line is what is more eorrectly to be called echelon, which the Cavalry drill book defines as ‘‘a formation of successive and parallel units facing in the same direction, each on a flank, and to the rear, of the unit in front of it.” From the simple echelon the V and Y formations seem to develop when the dressing of the line gives way. [CHar. IX, PARA. 28. | 43 Why should the echelon flight formation be usual in flocks of some species and not in others (among the Duck tribe, the Pochards prefer to fly en masse) ; and how are the former (as they evidently are, or the formation would not be employed) aided in their flight by such formation? These questions are asked and answered by Major Magrath in the Bombay Natural His- tory Society’s Journal of 1909. A little consideration, he says, will call to mind those species (see above) in which the echelon is in vogue, and also the flocks in which it is not seen or not noticeable, such as those of the smaller passerine species, the Gulls, Rooks and Lapwings and in coveys of Partridges or packs of Grouse, ete. If we bear in mind how species in both of the above categories fly in flocks, the suggestion will occur that the formation is intimately connected with uniformity and compactness of flocks, with weight and size of the component individuals, with velocity, with the powers of sustained flight required by migrant species and with capacity, in spite of size, for making headway in adverse winds; conversely, that it confers no advantage on flocks in which the individuals do not fly in very close proximity to one another, in which the formation is a loose and straggling one, in which the individuals, though fast fliers, have little power of sustain- ed flight, and in those composed of birds whose small size offers comparatively little resistance to the air. The answer to the first half of the question must then, I think, lie in the characteristics of the different species of gregarious birds and the necessities of their existence To the second half the answer must, I think, be sought for in the behaviour of the atmosphere on the passage at speed of a heavy body through it. . Focke are suitable, birds will keep together in large bodies ; where eyes they are not, birds break up “into small parties and may even be found in pairs or singly. In the Key an attempt is made to show those species which habitually, on big waters in Upper India, keep to large, and those which habitually keep to smaller, flocks, w here one hundred or over is called “large,” but of course the generalisation is a vague one. “Flock,” as used in the Individual Notes below, will be seen to be a term employed by most writers of the birds at rest and undisturbed, e.g., in the daytime after feeding, or even on arrival in migration, These are the occasions when the birds mass together, Once they are fired at, even on the big lakes, the flocks tend to break up into small parties. The writer is here forcibly reminded of the dangers of generalisation when he recalls the behaviour of Spotbill on a certain grey day with a gale of wind blowing on one of the great waters of Northern India. His Key says that the Spotbill is a bird usually to be found in small parties and pairs, and [Cuar. XI, 54 PARA. 31. | yet on this occasion one of the largest flocks he has ever seen under these conditions swept past him in the fusil- lade over fifty strong, so near and so packed as to yield three birds to two barrels. These remarks on the size of flocks do not refer to the birds when flighting toand from their feeding-grounds. They arrive at such places i in small parties (rising higher in the air as they leave the river-bed, etc., which they may have been following) and return in larger flights. The old-time wild-fowlers of Engiand had, like the followers of other sports, e.g., Falconry, a wonderful techni- eal vocabulary of their own, in which there were appro- priate names, not only for flocks of a particular size, but for collections of Ducks of a particular kind, or for parties of fowl on the water or in the air, as the case might be. These special names were— A “trip” was a small number, say thirty to forty of Ducks or Geese. A “bunch ” was a similar party of Wigeon, Pochard y fo} ? or Teal. A “knob” was a still smaller number of Wigeon, Pochards or Teal. A “paddling ” was a party of Ducks on the water. A “team” was a party of Ducks in the air. A “sord” or “ suit” was a flock of Mallard, A “company ” was a flock of Wigeon. A “flight” or “rush” was a flock of Dunbird (The Pochard), A “ spring ” was.a flock of Teal. Ducks are essentially gregarious birds, but they show a clannish preference for their own species, the flocks being homogeneous. Some species will associate with others, yet this is the exception rather than the rule. The Common Teal, the Gadwall, even the Spotbill, are sometimes seen in company with other kinds of Duck, but the most sociable of all the species is the Shoy alee He is the vulgarian of the True Ducks, and perhaps finds, like human vulgarians, that he knows more folk than care to know him, ‘There is an object , as noted in the preced- ing paragraph on Feeding, in his cultivating the company of the Diving Ducks. Where a single individual of one species, C95 nine Wigeon, is found with others, of anether species, the association is doubtless fortuitous, owing to the singleton having been temporarily cut off from his own kind, |CHar. XI. PARA. 31. ] 55 INDIVIDUAL NOTES ON SPECIES. Spotbill.—Usually met with in pairs or small parties, says Hume, but, where numerous, they may occasionally be seen in comparatively large flocks. Personally, J. do not remember ever seeing more than a dozen of them together ; and, though I have found from fifty to a hundred on a large lake like the Manchar, or the Najafgarh in the pre-drainage time, they have invariably been dotted about the lake in pairs, or in families (as I take it), of from three to ten individuals. Often, says Stuart-Baker, it is found singly or in pairs, and the flocks seldom number much over a dozen, though in rare instances they run up too as much as forty. Indeed Major McInroy as quoted by Hume, had frequently observed flocks of at least a hundred, and these he had seen both on the wing and at rest. If they ever associate with other ducks, Hume says, they give the preference to Teal or Shovellers, and Woods writes to me, ‘I have often seen an old solitary Spotbill piloting a flock of Teal across a jheel and jungle. In such eases the Spotbill may have had the company of Teal thrust upon him whether he desired it or not, Ma!lard.—Rarely seen in large fiocks, says Hume, and almost invariably in small knots of three to ten in number, or towards the close of the season in pairs. Gadwall.-~ In rivers andin small pieces of water, writes Hume, the Gadwall commonly occurs in small parties or from three to a dozen, but in large lakes I have seen them in flocks of several hundreds. They are very sociable birds, and may be found in company with every des- eription of Water Fowl; even. amongst Geese, who com- monly keep all the smaller Ducks at arms length, I have seen pairs of Gadwall swimming about unmolested. Common Teal.—Teal, writes Stuart-Baker, are ex- tremely variable in the numbers in which ~ they collect. Often they may be seen singly or in pairs, and at the same place flocks may be seen numbering hundreds, even thousands. The largest flocks appear to be met with in Sind and the north of the North West Provinces and the Panjab, and perhaps Northern Rajputana. In these places they are to be seen literally in flocks of many hundreds and frequently of thousands. On _ the Sunderbunds I think I have seen as many as five hundred in a flock; in the famous Chilka Lake I have been told of their rising in vast flocks which must have been nearly a thousand strong, and from other parts ot Iadia reports are given of flocks numbering hundreds, The most common-sized flocks overall their range may be somewhere between twenty and forty, and in Southern India, i.e., from Mysore to Ceylon, anything over the latter number is |Caar. X1, x PARA. 31.] 56 rare. Commonly Lhave observed, says Hume, that however large the flock that comes in, it alights about the banks of the lake or river in comparatively “small detachments. Wigcon.—They collect in very large flocks, says Stuar!- Baker, sometimes nambering as many as seven or eight hundred individuals, but more often will be found in flocks of a hundred or so, and of cours2, where they are less common, in small flocks of a dozen or less, often in pairs or singly, but in the latter case always with some other duck. Pintail.—Taken all round, says Stuart-Baker, the Pintail is one of the commonest of Indian ducks, occurring sometimes in huge flocks, but more often in such as number 40 to 60 individuals, It is but rarely very small flocks are seen and solitary birds or pairs hardly ever. Where they are least common, flocks of only twenty or so may be met with fre: quently, but this is about the mini- mum number, As regards the maximum number, it is hard to give figures, but Hume speaks of thousands in a flock, other writers of many hundreds in a flock, Garganey Teal.—As regards the numbers they arrive in, I have a special note, Hume writes, of having found a flock which I estimated to coatain twenty thous ind individuals at Rahun in the Etah district, on the 28th August 1865. Never before or since have I seen so huge a body of fowl of one kind, and I have noted that T bagged forty-seven of them beside losing at the time many wounded birds (I had no dogs with me) in the rushes. I had sent my gun-punt (built exactly on the lines of one of our Norfolk boats) a few days previously out there to see that it was all right for the coming season, and I had only taken w ith me a small but heavy Monghyr-made swivel- gun, carrying 8 ozs., to try. To my surprise, I found fhe thickest “body of fowl—on the open part of the jheel—that I had ever seen. I loaded the swivel with No. 4 shot and worked up quite close to some of them and within some fifty yards of the main body, when seeing that they were all aboat to start, I fired and knocked over at least sixty ; I actually secured forty-seven. ‘ This,” says Scuart-Baker, “ was thirty-five years ago, and I fear that flocks like this one are things of the past, though they may now and then be met with in very vast flocks. All through the Sunderbunds, andagain on the Chilka Lake, they are often to be seen in flocks of thousands, and in Oudh, the North- West and Sind such flocks are by no means rare. As a rule over most of its north and north-western range, the flocks may roughly be said to average about and Bepeoe one to two hundred. To the east, J think, they average smaller, and would put it somewhere between fifty and a hundred. Sm.ll flocks of five or six, or even ten and *(QULOLL .OMOT) woastAy pur (gor zoddn) quetoutoy osavy (VFoT Tool) VAT, SUTLISTT AL IOC —"PUNOA F940] ‘SSauad TINA NI SMONd WNOS [Crar. XT, 57 PARA. 31.] twelve, are not, I think, at all commonly met with, while pairs and single individuals are hardly ever seen.” They keep more closely together than any kind of Duck, dense packing being very characteristic of them. Shoveller.—Although common over the major part of the country it visits, writes Stuart-Bater, it does not seem anywhere to be found in very large numbers and may often be seen in pairs or even singly. I do not remember ever seeing a flock which numbered over forty, and should imagine such a flock to be rare anywhere, ‘Never in flocks,” says Hime “always in small parties.” They are very social birds, note Stuart-Baker and Hume, and consort with Teal, Gadwall and other ducks. Marbled Duck.—In Sind, wrote Hume, where I had abundant opportunity of observing it, [ found the Marbled Teal invariably associated in large parties. Red-crested Pochard,—In some parts of India, notes Stuart-Baker, they arrive in flocks of thousands, Hume writes In one place of “flocks of many thousands, and acres paved with them ;” again “ T rowed intoa flock of this species several thousands in number.”. Reid also, after saying that though (in the Lucknow Division) he had co ne across them in small parties, as a rule of a dozen or so, yet ‘one morning I came across countless numbers on a jheel in the Fyzabad district closely packed and covering the whole surface of the water, with their red heads moving indepen- dently, while the breeze kept their crests in motion; a distant spectator might have mistaken them for a vast expanse of beautiful aquatic flowers.” As a general thing therefore it would seem that the Red-crested Pochard likes to congregate in very large flocks, and it is only when the country is not very well suited to their wants that they split up into small parties, and, under these circumstances, very small! flocks and even pairs and single birds may be sometimes seen. The Pochard.—As regards the flocks it collects in, this would seem to depend almost entirely on the country it visits and its accommodation in the way of water. Thus, where there are huge jheels, morasses, and lakes covered in part with jungle and in part having open expanses of water of some depth, free of vegetation of a heavy charac- ter, they will be found in thousands; elsewhere they will be found in small flocks, pairs and rarely single birds. (Stuart- Baker.) White-eyed Duck.—-The flocks, writes Stuart-Baker, may number anything between half-a-dozen and over fifty, but even of the latter number there will be but few. Then again the birds lie so scattered and far apart that they 8 (Cuars. XI & XII, 58 PARAS. 3] & 32.) keep rising in ones and twos, giving the impression that they are only consorting in pairs or very small flocks, and of course many single birds and pairs are really met with. Tufted Duck.—Where suitable pieces of water are to be found, writes Stuart-Buker, the Tufted Pochard may be obtained in no inconsiderable numbers; at the same time it is unusual to find them in any but small parties and pairs, and single birds are to be met with more often than even such, Sonienones however they do consort in very large numbers, vide Hume, who says “ single birds or small parties may be found on any broads in which the water is tolerably deep insome places, but the huge flocks in which they love to congregate are only met with on the large lakes...... At the Manchar Lake I once saw two enormous flocks. {I have repeatedly seen similar flocks in old times at the Najafgarh and other vast jheels in the Panjab, the North-West Provinces and Oudh, and I should guess that at the Kunkrowli Lake in Odeypore there must have been nearly ten thousand, covering the whole centre of the lake. Such flocks as those, comments Stuart-Baker, are only to be met with in the Pro- vinces mentioned; in the eastern provinces a flock of forty is very large and about all we may expect to meet with. SUMMARY, KEY 177. ‘As seen on big waters in Upper India.) A —Big Flocks of One Hundred or Over. Gadwall. Garganey Teal. Common Teal. Marbled Duck. Widgeon Red crested Pochard. Pintail The Pochard. Tufted Duck. B.—Small Flocks. Spotbill (sometimes in pairs). Mallard (often very small parties). Shoveller (often pairs and singly’. White-eyed Duck (often pairs-and singly). CHAPTER XII. Notes and Cries. Huatinctive 32. The Ducks appear to have three main modes of notes orcries. expression, viz., a feeding note, or chatter ; an alarm-note (Key 18) and a eall-note. The man in the butt will not hear much of any of these, except perhaps the second, as hidden birds first rise in fright at the opening of fire or nervously: - (CHar. XII, 59 PARA. 32. | try to settle down again during the shooting. These things however are, if one has anything of the naturalist in one, worth some attention. In the Key only the alarm and call-notes are dealt with, but in the Remarks on Individual Species below is collected all that has been recorded by writers easily accessible in India. Whatever the reason may be, the males of the Duck tribe all have a remarkable bulbous development at the base of the windpipe, the shape differing in different species. This peculiar formation is popularly supposed to have something to do with voice-production, but the theory is upset by the fact that the female Mallard, who has no bulb or ‘' resonat- ing chamber” in her throat, has a louder and clearer note than the male who has. Pyeraft in his ‘History of Birds” thinks that the bulb is an organ which has become hypertrophied and is now undergoing, in consequence, a process of degeneration. It is certainly curious that the Diving Ducks, which have the bulb largest of all, do not even quack like the True Ducks but only have a typical grating note kurv delivered once or more, and are more silent in habit generally than the True Ducks. Most ofthe True Ducks seem to kesp upa constant chat” tering or jabbering while feeding ; this has been specially ered of the Spotbill, the Mallard, the Pintail, the Garganey and the Gadwall, the incessant noise in the ease of the last named being sufficiently noticeable to have earned the bird part of its Latin name, viz., sireperus. Many Duck not only quack but whistle. Two species not dealt with in the present work, viz., the Larger and Smaller Whistling Teal, derive their names from what seems to the layman a very unduck-like sound; in the ease of the Ducks dealt with here which have the two notes, the whistle seemsto be the call and the quack the alarm-note. Even the authorities however are cautious in their pronouncements. Thus Hume (see below, Indivi- dual Notes), thought himself at issue with Lord Lilford about the note of the Common Teal; Stuart-Baker thinks them both right. There is, as might be expected, since the call-notes chiefly used by the birds when flighting at night, less information about these than about the alarm-notes. The Key summarises and reconciles what is to be got. The note of the Wigeon, which he uses both when feeding, and when flying, deserves special mention, Hume’s description of it is given elsewhere; Seebohm calls it a loud, prolonged whistle or scream, immediately followed by a short note. He renders it mee-yuw; while the name “ Widgeon ” itself is another attempt at repro- ducing it, |Cnar. XI, 60 PARA. 32.} Observers have noted a change of voice in the males at the breeding season, but that is a matter with which the present w ork has no concern, INDIVIDUAL NOTES ON SPECIES. Spotbill.—Their voices, says Hume, both when chattering to each other, when at rest or feeding, and when uttering “their quacks of alarm, closely resemble those of the Mallard, but may always be distinguished by a greater sharpness; they are not so sonorous, but they seem to be emitted with greater force. Mallard.—The male emits a low, rather soft ery between a croak and a murmur and the female a louder and clearer jabber. Both, on being alarmed, and espe- cially in flying off, quack: but the quack of the female is much the louder. (Macgillivray.) The drake’s is a hoarse, faint quack. Gadwall,—They are more talkative birds than either the Grey or common Wild Duck, and when feeding in undisturbed localities keep up a perpetual chatterations not unlike that in which the Mallard occasionally in dulges, but shriller, feebler, and far more incessant. (Hume, Finn is not aware how the voice of the female differs from that of the male. Common Teal.—Its quack or alarm-note is very similar to that of the Garganey, and may be represented by the syllable knake; but the call-note of both sexes is a sharp krik. (Seebohm.) The usual note is a subdued quack, but Teal also have a whistle used chiefly at night. (Fauwna.) This Teal whistles and quacks, the female being responsible for the latter sound and the male for the former, (Finn.) Wigeon.—Has_ probably derived its name from its remarkable* note, but, as usual in such cases, it requires a considrable stretch of the imagination to recognise the similarity. The cry of this Duck isa loud, prolonged whistle or scream, immediately followed by a short note. I can best represent it by the syHables mee-yu, the first very loud and prolonged, the last low and short. (Seebohm.) The female utters a low purring growl. (Finn.) Pintail_— When undisturbed is a silent bird by day and rarely utters any sound, even when feeding, though. I have, says Hume, when lying up pretty close to them, heard a little low chatteration going on, more like the low clucking of hens than anything else. But when alarmed by day, and pretty constantly by night, they utter their peculiar soft quack, such a note as one might expecta Mallard, not quite sure whether he meant to speak of * In the male. (Author,) 61 (Car. XIT, PARA. 32. | not, to emit—quite different from the sharp quack of the Gadwall, softer and less strident than that of the Mallard but still not at all feeble, on the contrary audible ata great distance. The female, Finn says, utters a harsh unpleasant quack. Garganey Teal.—Almost noiseless in flight, and in other respects a somewhat silent bird. Its quack is not so loud as that of the Mallard, but is in a slightly higher key ; it may be represented by the syllable knake, whence the German name of this Duck, Knak-Ente. It is gener- ally uttered singly, but sometimes twice. The quack is common to both sexes. (Seebohm.) The male has a peculiar inward guttural croak. (Finn.) Shoveller.—Not a very noisy bird, The Duck quacks not unlike the domestic species ; the voice of the drake is a little deeper ; if we represent the former as quaak, the latter might be represented as quauk. On the wing, the note is a guttural puck puch. (Seebohm.) Marbled Duck.—‘ Lord Lilford, an extremely careful observer,” writes Hume, ‘*“‘ says that they utter a low, croaking whistle ; but I am sure I am correct in saying that they also utter a distinct, but rather hoarse, quack ; time after time, before a duck has been flushed, amidst the babel of sounds that rises in the rushes as you first begin to push through them on some unfrequented and unpoached broad, I have singled out their note and cor- rectly foretold that in such or such a direction there were a lot of Marbled Teal.” Stuart-Baker thinks the whistle and the quack are two distinct calls, as in some other duck. Red-crested Pochard.—-Their call-note, not very often heard by day unless they are alarmed, is quite of the Pochard charaeter—not the yuack of a Duck, but a deep, grating kurr, Occasionally the males only, [ think, writes Hume, emit a sharp, sibilant note—a sort of whistle, quite different from that of the Wigeoa and yet somewhat reminding one of that. The Pochard.—Their note, rarely heard until they are disturbed, is very like that of the White-eye, but louder and harsher—kurr, kurr. (Hume.) Has a hissing voice. (Latham.) White-eyed Pochard.—Their quack or note is peculiar, though somewhat like that of the Pochard,a harsh kirr, kere, kirr, with which one soon gets acquainted as they invariably utter it, staccato, as they bustle up from the rushes, often within a few yards of the boat. (Hume.) On the whole a very silent bird. (Stuart-Baker.) Tufted Duck.—When alarmed and flushed, they occa- sionally emit the regular, grating Pochard eall, hurr, kurv, but not so loudly, I think, as some of the other species. (Hume.) A silent bird on the whole, (Stuart-Baker.) [Cuar. XII, , PARA. 32. | 62 SUMMARY, KEY 18. Alarm-note. | Call-note. | SPOTBILL, Like Mallard, but sharper and omitted with greater force. MALLARD. Male has a hoarse, faint quack ; ! note of female is louder. | COMMON TEAL. A subdued quack, knake, Like | Male whistles. (finn.) A sharp that of Garganey. | krikin both sexes. (Seebohm.) WIGEON. i loud, prolonged whistle or scream, mee-yu. PINTAIL. Male, a pecular soft quack, less strident than Mallard; fe- | male, a harsh, unpleasant quack. | GARGANEY TEAL. A peculiar guttural inward ; croak, knake generally once but sometimes twice, both SeXes. SHOVELLER. Quacks like a domestic duck, ; A guttural Puck, puch. the voice of the drake a little | deeper. 1 MARBLED DUCK. A distinct, rather hoarse quack. | A low croaking whistle. RED-CRESTED POCHARD. A deep granting Kurr*. Occasionally a sharp, sibilan note (males only), THE POCHARD. Like that of the White-eye, but | + A hissing voice. louder and harsher. WHITE-EYED POCHARD. ‘A harsh kirr, kere, kirr, uttered | staccato, TUFTED DUCK. Kurr, Kurr, the typical Pochard eall, but not so loud as in some. 1 * Tlume says this is also the cull-note. + Note.—Whether this is the call or the alarm-note is not clear. on, POXT JO ., SUYPPeag Vs, ‘(QUOLt ottatpXo) Prvrpood a} pur (punossyorq ys) ayvappeyg Appnyy ‘(e~ppru yyzor) parvyoog oy} “(punoisyourd oppptur eaqueo) [requir ‘(punoasso10} a1yu9d Joy) [voy Souvsaay *(4jo_ domo, pur aoddn) pavyypeypy ‘young pextu Jo .. Suypped ,, y MONd GUXIN HO «SONTICVd» 63 CHAP. XI, PARA. 33. | CHAPTER XIII. Behaviour under Fire. 33. It is not easy to write anything in the way of Behaviour generalisation about the behaviour of the ‘various Ducks “Key ce under fire. The Pochards as a class, owing to their affec- tion for large open stretches of water when resting, are less accessible than the other Ducks to the shore- aHeotee but the habit is a recommendation in drives on big jheels. The Tufted Duck, though wild and shy, will keep to large pieces of water, never leaving them, according to Hume, till after dark. Even the tamest of the varieties will show distrust if much disturbed and shot at; it may however be said that the Pintail will never be seen after the first few shots on a big day, while the Shoveller will hang about till the bitter end. For wariness the Wigeon (when driven), the Red-crested Pochard and the Garganey Teal probably come next to the Pintail and not many of them will be found in the bag at the day’s end, which will prove to consist mainly of Spotbill, Mallard, Gadwall, Common ‘Teal, Shoveller, Pochard of all kinds other than the Red-crested, with a sprinkling, where they are at all common, of Marbled Duck. No duck, it may safely be said, is easy to bring down. All are strong, fast and dense-plumaged enough. to require to be hit well forward. For his size the Spotbill carries less shot than the other ducks, a fact that is explained by his having a lighter feather covering, being a resident, than the migratory species. NOTES ON INDIVIDUAL SPECIES, Spotbill.—They are not shy birds, says Stuart-Buker, and until they have been much shot at, can generally be approached near enough for a shot fairly easily. It is perhaps an_ easier bird, says Stuart-Baker, than most of its size and weight to bring down when hit, owing to its plumage being rather less dense than that of many other ducks, Mallard.—Strong flyers and, if walked up, require straight shooting, as they rise with a bound straight up in the air, 5 Gadwall.—Though not as a rule a very shy bird, says Stuart-Baker, yet he is quite wide awake enough to make the getting within shot of him an interesting, if not difficult, job. Where too he has been much shot, all one’s ingenuity and perseverance will be required before the game-bag can be made to assume the bulgy appearance it ought. Common Teal.—Teal, says Stuart-Baker, often lie close enough to allow of constant shots at from 25 to 40 yards, and as they often scatter a good deal, even when |Coar. X11, PARA. 33. | 64 resting, two or three shots may be obtained at the same flock. In this way on large sheets of water, a good bag may be made before the birds get scared and leave altoge- ther, or else rise far out of shot. Nowhere in Bengal have I found Teal to be of a very confiding nature, but that they are so in other parts of their Indian habitat is well known. Hume writes: “They are as a rule, when near met with villages, excessively tame—too tame to render shooting them possible, unless you really require them for ‘food, Not only will they let you walk up to them when they are on a village pond, as close as you please, but when you have fired at them and killed two or three, the remainder after a short flight will again settle, as often as not well within shot. Nay, at times, though fluttering a gooddeal and looking about as if astonished, they will not: rise at all at the first shot, des- pite the fact that some of their comrades are lying dead before them.” They stand a fair amount of shot unless hit well forward, when a single pellet of No. 6 or 7, or even No. 8, may suffice to bring the bird to bag. (Stuart- Baker.) Wigeon.—They vary very much in being wild or the reverse, says Stuart-Baker, but, taking them everywhere in comparison with other ducks they may be said to be cute, wary birds, but falling short in this respect of many of their kind. What adds too to the ease of getting shots at them is their habit of feeding almost throughout the day, their feeding taking them much to the edges of the jheels and lakes, where they remain amongst the reeds and vegetation. This of course hides the stalker and the stalked, and many shots may be obtained at Wigeon by walking round the borders of a lake, whilst sitet of the duck are away in the middle of the water, unapproachable except by boat, and often not by that. Not as hard to bring down as the Garganey or Common Teal, for they are less densely plumaged and can carry far less lead. Pintail—They are shy and wary, writes Hume, and leave a jheel almost at the first shot, or, if they do hesitate to change their quarters, circle round and round high out of shot. There is no driving them backwards and. for- wards from one piece of water to another, or one part of a lake to another, over sportsmen concealed behind screens or in rush clumps. You may kill a brace or so, but, directly they begin to find that shooting is going on in earnest, off they go, probably not to alight again for several miles. As a rule, says Stuart-Baker, they are extremely shy, wary birds, and are very hard to approach within gun-shot, but one or two people have found them to be quite the contrary. Captain Baldwin says that he found it an easy bird to approach even when feeding on open pieces of (Cap. AIIT, 65 PARA. 33. | water. This is somewhat confirmed by the fact that in Cachar the natives tell me they can get at Pintails far more easily than at other ducks, and it is true that they do bring in more Pintails in proportion than they do Gadwalls, Teal, ete.; at the same time I have personally found them to be the hardest to get at of all the ducks, and such of my friends as have given me their experience have found the same. Garganey.—As to whether they are wild or tame, notes Stuart-Baker, opinions seem to differ very much. Theobald says, “They are not very hard to shot and are easily approached behind a_ screen of green boughs ; sometimes a paper kite made in the shape of a hawk and flown over the tanks keeps the teal together and they will not leave the tanks, though fired at often.” ...Reid says, that they are shy and wild when they first arrive (in Lucknow), but afterwards become tamer. Hume says that, they are never tame and generally decidedly wild. As far as Stuart Baker’s own experience goes, the Garganey is one of the wildest of the duck tribe; even when the would-be shooter keeps behind screens, ete., they seem to be very cute and to be able to discern what is behind the screen quicker than many others of their kind, and they are not slow to profit by what they can dis- cern; then too they keep much to fairly open water when resting. Shoveller.—Even on large sheets of water, says Hume, when, after a tremendous fusillade, every other wild-fowl has temporarily quitted the lake, you will still find, as you prowl round the shores to pick up the Snipe, continually find Shovellers rising before you from the weedy shallows well within shot. As a rule they are very tame and can be easily approached if the least caution is taken, says Stuurt-Baker, and they have the reputation of allowing repeated shots to be. fired at them before a flock will leave the piece of water they are fre- quenting. Marbled Duck.—As a rule, says Hume, it does not at once rise when guns are fired, as the other Ducks do, but, if by chance it is at the moment outside of the rushes or similar cover in the open water, it scuttles into con- cealment as a Coot would do; and, if in cover already, remains there perfectly quiet until the boats push within 60 or 70 yards of it; then it rises generally one at a time and, even though fired at, not unfrequently drops into the rushes within a couple of hundred yards. When there has been a good deal of shooting on a lake and almost all the other duck and with them of course some of these are circling round and round high in the air, you still keep, as you push through the reeds and rushes, continually 9 [Crar. XIIT, 6G PARA. 33. | flushing the Marbled Teal, and the broad must be small or the hunting very close and long-continued to induce all the Marbled Teal to take wing. Of course, where there is a little cover (though you never meet with this dack in large numbers), they rise and fly about with the other ducks, but their tendency in this respect is coot-like rather than duck-like. Individuals may take wing at the first near shot, but the great majority of them stick to cover as long as this is possible; and on two occasions I saw very pretty shooting, boats in line pushing up a wide extent of rush-grown water and the Marbled Teal rising in front of us at aigtenecs of sixty or seventy yards, lize Partridges out of some of our great Norfolk turnip- -fields ; here and there a Shoveller or a White- eyed Pochard, both of which when disturbed, cling a good deal to cover, would be flushed, but there was not one of these to ten of the Marbled Teal. Red-crested Pochard.—From a sporting point of view, says Stuart-Baker, the Red-crested Pochard is all that can be desired. About as smart as they make them, he seems to have special aptitude for judging the length of range of different guns; and a flock may be caught once, ‘but seldom twice, ‘whatever distance the gun may reach. The Pochard.—Normally they would appear to be neither very shy nor yet very tame, sags Stwart-Baker, but it takes very little shooting to make them most decidedly the former: and then, owing to their keeping so much in the centre of the water, they frequent, they are by no means easy to get within shot of. White-eyed Duck.—No doubt, says Stuart-Baker, their manner of rising (in ones and twos) is a very admirable trait for any duck to possess, and the White-eye has other good points as well. As a rule it is a decidedly tame bird, still lingering in amongst the reeds and other jungle long after other nearly all other ducks have left, rising well within shot when disturbed and often not going far before again seeking the water. It requires straight shooting to kill outright, for it is a hardy, close-plumaged little bird and will take a lot of shot. Tufted Duck.—However abundant it may he, says Siuart-Baker, of ordinary shooting rather than driving, the Tufted Pochard does not asa rule form a very large portion of a bag in a day’s shoot. This is due to the difficulty, first, in approaching the birds—for they are decidedly wild and shy—and, secondly, in getting a shot when one has once got within reach. Ifthe bird does not escape at once by diving, swimming or flight, it is sure to dive before at any rate the sportsman has had time to get [Cuar. XIII, 67 PARA. 39. | a shot, and, once it has seen him and had its first dive, it is very problematical as to whether he will ever geta shot again. It is worth remembering, should one come across a flock in any large piece of water, Hume’s maxim that Tufted Pochards will not leave the water they are on till after dark, SUMMARY, KEY 19. A.—SHyY BirpDs. Pitail,—Clears off altogether after a few shots have been fired, Wigeon.— (when driven). Garganey Teal. Reil-crested Pochard. B.—MoOrE CONFIDENTIAL. Shoveller.—Hangs about the shores till the bilter end, Tufted Huck.—Will keep to large pieces of water even ina fusillade, White-eyed Pochard.—Keeps to cover and often rises by ones and twos. Marbled Duck.—Keeps to cover. Spotbill. Mallard. Gadwall. Common Teal. Pochards other than the Red-crested. | CHAP. LY: “PARA. 34. ] Some difficulties in shooting from a butt, 68 PART atk CHAPTER XIV. Notes on Shooting. 34, Full, it is hoped, by now of lore about the Ducks and their manners and customs, the tyro has at last got what he wished for, viz., a chance to try his hand in one of the big Duck drives described in Chapter II. He may be a man with a fine eye and all the other natural advantages that go to make the good game-shot; if so, he is lucky, and before long he will have realised what is demanded of vision, brain and hand and be doing the rigbt thing instinctively. Most people however are not so fortunate, and only learn to do reasonably well by long and careful attention and practice. Butt shooting, moreover, is, in itself, not too easy. It is one thing to be able to hit birds even the difficult ones, when you are standing in an easy, natural position with nothing else to think about except your shooting; it is quite another to bring Duck down from inside a small enclosure, the sides of which may be so high as to prevent your covering the birds that pass low down, or so low as to require you to crouch—in order to keep hidden—till the last moment, so that at the time of firing youare thoroughly cramped. It is wonderful how unintelligent in India often are the people on whom one has to depend for the minor details (if the construction and placing of a butt can be called a minor detail) of one’s shooting arrangements. This cramped position in butt-shooting often makes one miss crossing shots at which one could hardly fail under better conditions and also accounts for people finding they are doing better at the directly-approaching birds. To the man then just beginning to think he was getting into the knack of shooting, don’t be discouraged, the writer would say, by your large percentages of misses in these specially difficult circumstances. Think it out, and you will find that they were specially difficult and that even the best shots, if they are friendly and honest enough to tell you, also fired an immense proportion of cartridges to birds bagged. ‘I have frequently heard discussed,” says Best in his ‘Indian Shikar Notes,” « the question of what consti- tutes a good shot. I do not think that birds killed per cent. of cartridges fired is any criterion. Some peo- ple who are vain about their shooting take none but easy shots and think that they are good marksmen, If you know a man who always kills more birds than the average of other than men out, no matter where [Cnar. XIV, 69 PARA, 34. ] he is placed, do not believe people who say he is lucky in having all the birds coming his way, nor should you worry about the number of cartridges he lets off (unless it is very abnormal). You will almost certainly find that the real reason of his supposed ‘luck’ is that he is a better shot, who takes more chances, and kills his birds clean.’ Wait till the very end of the season be- fore you condemn yourself as incompetent. Then will be the time when the Quail are in at the ripening of the corn. Get hold of aman who keeps eall-birds (there are always ove or two in every large village) ; get him to put them out for you overnight in a nice bit of wheat country large enough to keep you’and a pal busy for a couple of hours. Go out at daybreak with the aforesaid pal and a dozen smart village youngsters and take a line not more than fifty yards wide, quartering the fields so that you will keep the wild Quail which ane eall-birds will have collected for you on, and do not drive them off, the ground, Then, if you can’t hit enough to make you happy, you may go home and sell your gun. You have everything in your favour now—the sun behind you at your choice, the knowledge that the birds are there, no weary Wailing between shots, sufficient shooting —mostly straightaway ligne keep your eye in and, above all a dark little bird that shows up against the yellow corn like a cricket-ball against a screen. A bad hackground is often half the difficulty in shooting. Who does not realise this that has shot that engaging little ruffian the Sisi, a tiny Partridge that haunts the rocky low hills of that Salt Range and Trans Indus country ? He is the very colour of ane rocks he lives on, so that, whether he runs or flies, he is extremely difficult to pick up with the eye. With him too you are presented with a neat dilemma. Either you advance at the same pace at which he saw you to the little rise from which he last took skilled stock of your movements and intentions, or you run to that spot (it may be sixty yards) likea stage. In the former case you will find that he has moved on a little faster than he thought you were going, when of coarse you will be out of range by the time you see him; in the latter, you will find your bird within range but yourself out of breath. It is however oaly the dilemma of butt shoot- ing in the Duck-drive over again, Either youstand up so fiat you can shoot properly, in which case the birds see you and sheer off; or you take careful cover so as to let the birds come as near you as possible, in which case you are too cramped to shoot, Still, that is what happens in sport as in other things. You can’talways have it both ways. Quail shooting is one of the few’ matters in which if you only manage things reasonably well, the odds are [Car XIV, PARAS. 34, 35 & 36. | 70 Advantages of a good gunand good nmin unition, “Swing”’ versus “* Carry Forward ” method, nearly all with you. That is why it leaves sucha pleasant flavour in the mouth by the time that the guns have got to be oiled up and put away till next season, and why it should not be omitted from the season’s programme. ; SOME POSITIVE ADVICE. It is easy enough totell the young sportsman’ what he should not do, The writer proposes to do that later. Is there however any positive advice that one can make him a present of ? 35. First and foremost, the beginner should buy the very best gun and use the very ammunition that he can afford. He will find it more satisfactory, if money is short, todo less shooting with a good outfit than more witha bad one, Cheap bad cartridges account for more cripples and runners than many people realise. The price of English ammunition has, thank goodness, dropped from the war pitch, and it pays to import it of the best (a number of sportsmen can club together and, by order- ing large quantities, secure substantial reductions), or buy it from the many dealers out here. Your gun should not only be the best your pocket can run to, but it should be perfectly fitted for you by an expert, who, watching your shooting, and equipped with all the appliances for the purpose, is able to give you something that does not knock you about by the time you have fired three or four hundred rounds. This is a very different thing, mark you, from loosing off a mere fifty or so. You can do that without discomfort—you ean even hit quite a few birds— with a gun that does not quite fit, but the other is the real thing, and you must have experienced it to realise the pains that the badly-fitting gun can inflict. Finger are chipped, arm muscles bruised and, worst of all, the jaw so battered that the victim flinches from bringing it down on the butt as he should for every shot. The stan- dard load for a 12-bore gun taking the 23 in. (shortest) case is 1 to 14 ozs. of shot and 42 or 36 grs. of Curtis and Harvey’s Amberite or Smokeless Diamond, as the ease may be, The cumulative effect of several hundred raps from such a charge, calculated though it is, to pro- duce the maximum power with the least shock to man and gun, is not to be despised. 36, Ina preceding paragraph mention has been made of the all-important matters of forward allowance, or «“ borrowing,” as some prefer to call it. There are two ways in which this may be given in shooting, v7z., (?) us swing ” and (ii) “carry forward,” By swinging is meant keeping the gun moving with the object before, and even at the time of, pressing the trigger; by carrying forward [CHap. XIV, rf PARA. 36. | is meant firing into theair at the place where you judge the bird will be when the shot reaches that place. In the con- cluding paragraph the former method is advocated, so much so that care is taken to avoid the use of the word “aim,” since in swinging there must be the initial alignment of the gun on the bird, but it is better termed “ covering,’ or “moving the gun on the object,” or anything that does not suggest deliberate aiming. For the swinging method it is claimed that 1t reduces the processes involved to three, viz., (1) spotting the bird, («7) raising the gun and moving it with, and on, the bird, and (iiz) estimating in terms of the linear distance which the bird has to travel the time the shot will take to reach him, One factor present in the “carrying forward” method, viz., the time taken to fire, may be eliminated, since pressing the trigger becomes automatic, being part and parcel of the general swinging motion. More than this, the man who, without swing, is going to try and cut inon the place where the bird will be has to perform a calculation before he even begins to do anything else, a calculation too which is unassisted by the muscular sense-guide derived from the propor- tionately-timed swing. Again, the getting ready to fire, divorced of the helpful swinging movement, takes longer than it otherwise would, which is no unimportant matter when it is realised that some persons take * six times as long as others to convert a visual image into a voluntary muscular action, Finally, it is urged, that in firing as you swing, you get the resultant of two forces, outwards and forwards, a further insurance against taking too little allowance.+ Lord Walsingham, who no doubt was a man in whom both accuracy and rapidity of the expres- sion of muscular sense was very exceptional, holds that “accuracy and rapidity in shooting depend more on the act of putting the gun tothe shoulder than upon what movement is given it after it is there.” His advice on how to deal with driven grouse is attached to sub-para IV below, but it is interesting to see that, while the above remark of his might seem to be good authority for the “carry forward” method, in the passages which have been underlined, he distinctly advocates swinging, To sum up.—If we classify the possible kinds of shot into “cross,” “quartering,” “ascending,” ‘des- cending,” “approaching” and ‘retreating ” shots, swing will be most needed cu the first of all and the last two,but it can hardly be dispensed with in any. There seems in fact tobe only one occasion stop which the ordinary man can Dr, Fleming on the ** Physiology of Shooting,” Field, February 19th, 1887. } } Badminton Library, “Shooting (Moor and Marsh).”’ * {(Coar. XIV, PARAS. 36, 37, 38 & 39. | "9 Place to grip with the left hand. Lord Walsingham on shooting driven grouse, What the gun and cartridges can do, afford to neglect swing and that is when he simply must try and do without, ¢.g., a snapshot among trees, etc., where the carry forward is his only hope. > 7 37. The authorities favour a grip with the left hand thrown well forward along the barrel, nearly to the full extent of the arm, on the ground that by this means greater leverage is obtained and the movement quicker made than if the hand is held near the trigger guard. 38. The following is Lord Walsingham’s advice in the Badminton took on shooting driven grouse: ‘ In shoot- ing driven birds, select without hesitation, as they approach, that one which will first arrive within ood killing range. Put the gun to the shoulder quickly as he reaches the required spot, directing it at the beak or well away in front of it, according to the angle of his flight, the pace at which he is going, and the distance the charge has to travel. If this is done correctly, the trigger may be immediately pulled. J/ adjustment is seen to be required, ut ehould he as instantaneous as pos- sible, and will almost invariably consist of a quick swing forward to keep pace with the bird. As the trigger is pulled, there should be no unsteadiness, no lifting or lowering, no flinching or jerking. Jf the gun is in motion at the instant of firing, the movement should be maintained until the shot has left the muzzle; if it is stationary, the recoil should not be allowed in the slightest degree to change its direction. As you pull the trigger, the eye should take up a fresh object, and the operation should be repeated ; a man with good sight need not wait to see the effect of his first shot. He will be aware of this at the instant of firing, as it is well known that images are retained upon the retina for an appreciable moment after the eye is diverted.” 39. Find out what the gun and cartridges are meant to do. The ammunition-makers have brought loading to a fine art, so that you do not need to bother about that. But you can make the mistake either of over-rating or under rating your tools, Some people leave many birds, especially those above them, because they suppose them to be out of range. But overhead distance is extraordin- arily deceptive. Says Richard Jeffrys in that fascinat- ing book “The Amateur Poacher,” ‘“ Men who are excellent judges of distance when it is a hare running across the fallow find themselves all at fault trying to shoot at any elevation. Perhaps this arises from the pecaliarity of human eye which draughtsmen are foud of illustrating by asking a tyro to correctly bisect a yertical line, a thing that looks easy and is really only to be doue by long practice.” “Uv onsqaodg Ivy VW 73 (Char. XIV, PARAS. 39 & 40. } The regulation height for an overhead telegraph wire in Indian cities is about 22 feet, but if you were to assure the diffident sportsman that it is easily possible to hit Duck at four and five times that height, he would say you were a..,..., or perhaps one should say he would need some persuasion to make him believe it. On the other some expect the powder, which is made as quick as science will produce, to do the impossible. As stated in a previous portion of the book, with the best powders in common use, shot travels forty yards in one-seventh of a second and faster at shorter ranges ; with a bird there- fore travelling at right angles across the firer at a speed of forty miles an hour, the forward allowance should be one foot for every five yards of distance, 7.¢., eight feet for the forty yards. Now, as noted in Chapter IX, the speed of driven Duck may often be much greater than forty miles an hour, so one can hardly err on the side of holding too far ahead. It is safe to say that most birds going at high speed are missed behind. The twelve-bore is the best all-round weapon, without a doubt, and, if one likes, one can buy them with chambers made to take long cases up to two-and-seven eighths inches with specially heavy “ wild-fowl ” charges ; they vill however of course not be as ght as the ordinary gun that takes the two-and-a half inch case. There are some men, and most ladies, who prefer the lighter sixteen-bore gun. If so, they must not expect it to do all a twelve-bore does, 40. The beginner will often enviously watch the skilled hand bringing down birds at what seem to him amazingly long ranges. He thinks this must have something to do with the size of shot the artist selects, but is surprised to find that the size is the same as what he himself is using. What is happening is that the good shot is putting the pellets in the right place, nob making them go further or hit harder. A single cartridge contains from a little under 200 to a little under 300 pellets of the sizes commonly used for birds about the size of Duck. : | 4 P e) _ — —_—_S = — = (aooy | ‘oIndvay OATQOUTY qo cae up= E. 4¥ 940U 90g) | EA) Sl alt i ae [ees Babes emacs) L110 ‘SHUVNG IY | “Si Ay[ewods 194409 | ‘Sexes YIOq UL OXI[=V jo | “mnjnavdy IMo[og aynon nynpanhiane) Dynav niyo adoqauad naaav yy DIDAMD UNIAN sniadats snuspjaynoyg Snd80g SHUR snouhopryoo0d snup ‘OULU UlQeT ~~ {SS | Syn OMA, ‘Ty syonq fai ‘T | | | | | | | | TOOL [vay, Aouvsiey ‘y OO9T [feJUl_ "9 66EL WOOSTM ‘Ce LOST [eay, UOWMOD ‘F C6CT [[VAPeH “¢ G6ST PLVITeN S6CL T1Iqgodg *f ‘SSID I ‘LOQUINU YILAR Spilg “vlpuy Yysiatig fo vuney Ur seu Iepndog a a ( ‘MONG AO SHIOAdS MANOWINWOO &1 AHL AO LSIT V ‘TI “ON AWM [Tue Kars. | “ sé TM ae ae ad ‘Q[BUL A[N pe UL yuRIT[IIg eSRuny(d asdda of ra ss livag y S ee TInipey - iV ‘@ZIS UL ASAT sajouep JT — 7/0 ‘GT 99 OT ‘SON Wor ‘syon(T Unevog ay] ‘ssvlo JUaLasJIp v UL ET ‘ON synd soqvo ‘apy nq ‘sesodand SULYIOM LOZ [NJosn SI ,eIpuy Jo spalige OULBE) 5, SIY UL SIPVC) “APT JO PUY Sl OM ‘WoIzZRIYISSe[) OIL J, | | ) | ‘SLONJVOF MOTTE | | & W ech Mere poqatod y | °° Vi ORI M | ** mynbyng noowhiny |! a EMAO RS CM LH teh! wD j | ‘silr | | ‘Splvyo0g | TIES | OYA SVU opel Tookm || "7 y SUM | * paubhnutaf DIO NT \ 10 “Sxon(yT OO9T JoucT poAd-oF IY MA ‘ZL | | | ; BULA “PTY ‘aAW | a les y ‘ois + _Notu.—The spelling in Cols. 2 and 3 is that of ‘‘the Game Birds of British India, ete.,” unaltered. * rom the Fauna. Printed at the Pioneer Press, Allahabad, by C. G. H ARRIS, No. 500—8-12-23, te Sieh Aa) aos ig “ie | ae FY tol i i ine te ~~ ee=r “Sl a yee 3 min YD \8 I Y Se ura? | a.