Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/201

Rh the water and most of them dive well. Some feed on fishes and some on water-weeds, or insects, or snails. Their habits in this respect have a practical interest for us, because we feed on them and their taste in one sense depends on their taste in another.

The domestic duck is the type of the Natatores. In a wild state the same bird is known to sportsmen as the Mallard, which is abundant in Sind and the Punjab, but rarely strays so far south as this. There are several species of wild Ducks, however, which visit us regularly, such as the Pintail, the Gadwall, the Common and Garganey Teals, and the Shoveller. The last is a coarse feeder and its flavour is variable, but the other four are among the most tasty of the whole tribe. They are all migratory birds, spending the summer in Central Asia, or Europe, or even the Arctic Regions. They arrive here in September or October, and at first wander about in an aimless way, settling on any water that seems to offer a chance of a meal. Large flocks may be seen crossing our harbour in different directions, and of course they will settle at times on the inundated parts of the Flats. This is the native shikaree's opportunity. His idea of sport is to bag a maximum of meat with a minimum expenditure of powder and shot. So he gets up before dawn, and, having marked a flock, wriggles like a mudfish, under cover of a ridge of earth, or a tuft of grass, till he gets within range, then sends a heavy charge of large shot into the thick of them. I have known of fourteen Ducks being bagged in this way by a single shot. The wild Duck is no fool, and a few sharp lessons of this kind soon teach the survivors wisdom, which is the reason that there is