Ruddy Shelldrako is more or less common in all suitable
localities. Naturally, however, in desert, riverlcss country like
so much of Rajputana, they are seldom seen,* and in certain
similar tracts in Sind, and again in Cutch and Kathiawar, they
arc rare.
In Cachar too, according to Mr. Inglis, they are rather rare,
but throughout the Assam Valley and in Munipur-f- they are
very common and so they seem to be in Mymensing and
Chittagong, so that their alleged scarcity in Cachar is rather
unaccountable.
They arc not confined to the plains, but are to be met with
equally in the earlier and later parts of the cold season, (they
are scarcer in mid-winter,) throughout the lower outer ranges
of the Himalayas, in the lakes of the Kashmir, the Kullu and
Sutlej Valleys—indeed in the valleys of all our larger Himalayan
rivers, the valley of Nepal, and generally up to elevations of six
or seven thousand feet, while in the summer they are found
breeding at elevations of 12,000 feet and upwards, in the valleys
of the Indus and Shyok, at the Tso-mourari, Tso-khar, Pangong,
and other lakes, and again in the higher Sikhim rangesj &c.
Outside our limits, I do not think that they extend to any
part of the Malay Peninsula, nor have they been recorded
from Siam, though they must needs occur in the northern
portions, at any rate, of that kingdom ; but they arc common in
Independent Burma, and Anderson records finding them in the
Sanda valley and on the sandbanks of the Taipeng River.
This species appears to be common in winter on inland waters
pretty well throughout China, and extends to Japan where some
* Its rion-OCCUrrence in Arabia (if that be a fact) while occurring in India, Persia,
Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt, may be due to this same cause.
•t My late lamented friend, Mr. Uamaut, sent me the following interesting note about
this species:—"The Brahminy occurs generally throughout Lower Bengal and Assam,
and it is very common in Manipur. In the day time it is generally found on sandbanks
in the larger livers ; it goes out early in the morning to feed in the rice fields,
and is then sometimes found in small flocks, rarely, however, numbering more than
twenty birds. It is hardly worth shooting as it is very fishy in taste.
"The great resort of all Water Fowl in Manipur is the Logtak Lake, a large sheet
of water Tying some twenty miles to the south of the capital. In the cold weather
this is about seven miles in length by three or four in width. A leading feature of
this hike is the Moating islands with which it is studded ; they are composed of masses
of vegetation so densely matted together that in some instances fisherman's huts
have been built on them. They drift about the lake, and form excellent hiding places
for birds.
"In the cold weather this lake is literally covered with Wild Fowl, their numbers
far exceeding any thing I have seen elsewhere. I have killed the following species
there:—Grey Lag and Barred-headed Geese, Cotton and Whistling Teal, Brahminy
Duck (which are very numerous), Shoveller, Grey Duck, Gadvvall, Pintail Duck,
Common and blue Winged Teal, Red-headed Pochard and Tufted Duck, and I have
seen the Pink-headed Duck.
"Of these the Cotton and Whistling Teal and Grey Duck breed in large numbers,
the remainder (except perhaps the Pink-headed Duck) are migrants, appearing
generally about the end of October and going away about the end of March,'
J Where Hooker obseived it and Blandford also says :—
" A pair were seen on the lake Bidan, near the Jelep-ki in the Chola Range,
and one was shot by Capt. Ehves."
breed. It is very common in Mongolia, where it is chiefly a
summer visitant, (though some winter in the valley of the
Hoang-ho,) as it is likewise to Southern Siberia, and the whole
of Central Asia (Turkestan) to the Caspian. It is not a northern
bird, and in Asia does not seem, even in summer, to range much
north of the 52nd parallel.
Westwards it is common in Afghanistan, Beluchistan and
many parts of Persia ; in Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Palestine,
and the entire northern portions of Africa, to which many
are, however, only winter migrants.
In Europe it is nowhere common at any season except in
the basin of the Black Sea. In the rest of Southern Europe
it is rare, (some few breeding, it is said, in Spain,) while to
Northern Europe, in most countries of which, (as in Great
Britain,) its occasional occurrence has been recorded, it is a
mere straggler.
THE BRAHMINY is first seen in the Kashmir Lakes, the
Nepal valley and other places in the lower southern ranges of
the Himalayas, about the end of September or the beginning
of October. By the end of the latter month they are generally
pretty well distributed through the whole of Northern India,
and during November they arrive in the Deccan and further
south.
The majority leave Southern India before the 1st of April,
and Northern India by the first week in May, but Messrs. Davidson*
and Wenden both say that some remain in the Deccan
until late in the hot weather ; others in Upper India have
noticed individual birds of this species late in May, and it may
be that some of the later hatched broods do not breed in
their first year, and that these are the laggards.
This is in India, as a rule, essentially a fresh-water Duck ; it
is rare to find them on the sea-coast or even in estuaries where
the water is salt, but Jerdon says he has seen thousands on the
Chilka Lake, which is, I believe, mainly sea water.
They arrive in flocks, and before leaving in April gather
again into these, but during the winter they are almost invariably
seen in pairs. Often several pairs may be found congregated
in the same place, but even then each pair comes out
distinct on any alarm, and acts on its own behoof and without
reference to the others.
It is in the broad beds of our Indian rivers, where
clean sandbanks break the river into many channels, that
the Ruddy Shelldrake most especially delights, and in such
Thus Davidson says :—Common along the sandy islands and banks of all the
largish rivers in the Deccan. arriving in November and remaining till very late
m the hot weather ; rare in Tumkur, Mysore, and only seen in two or three instances
on the larger tanks ; not noticed in the Panch Mahals, but doubtless found along
the Mahi River. (See also Mi. Theobald's remarks, ante, note, botlom of p . 1 2 3 .)