10 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIL 



placed in amongst the roots of a large tree standing at the edge of a 

 large piece of water and partly in it. It consisted of a huge mass of 

 weeds and grass, and was quite invisible from anywhere. The previous 

 year the coot had been seen swimming to it, and the year the duck took 

 possession must have again laid her eggs or two of them and then been 

 driven away by the Mallards : these latter had eight eggs, hard set, but 

 not so much so as the two coots, which were on the point of hatching : 

 these latter were under the duck eggs, and had evidently been laid first. 

 There are many other instances of Mallards taking other birds' nests, 

 amono'st them one where they seized on the lofty abode of a rook. 

 In Kashmir it is said to breed sometimes in the rice-fields. 

 On leaving the nest the duck is said frequently to cover her eggs 

 with weeds and grasses to screen them from observation. This is how- 

 ever, I think, the exception and not the rule. I have seen eggs so covered, 

 but far more often I have found them without any additional cover 

 at all. If hurried, the bird has not time of course to collect the neces- 

 sary material; but even when leaving the nest deliberately and not 

 disturbed in any way, I think she generally leaves her eggs as they lie. 



They lay from six to twelve eggs ; the natives say sixteen. I have 

 never seen more than eleven; and Hume, who through his collectors must 

 have had records of many hundreds of nests, never knew of more than 

 eleven, so that anything above this number would appear to be 

 abnormal. 



In colour the eggs when first laid are of various tints, ranging from a 

 very pale greyish-green to olive-grey and cafe-au-lait. As incubation 

 proceeds the colour continues to deepen, and the green tinge, which is 

 the most prevalent colour in the fresh egg, is nearly always lost. I had one 

 eo-g in my collection which was a deep buff colour ; it was found in East 

 Prussia and I cannot say how far advanced incubation was when the 

 eo-cr was taken; but, judging from the size of the hole, the chick could 

 not have been very large. 



The texture is very fine, smooth, close and satiny to the touch, 

 like most ducks' eggs. There is a faint gloss, sometimes rather pro- 

 nounced, in the fresh egg, often absent in those near hatching. 



They are normally shaped ducks' eggs, i.e., rather broad regular ovals, 

 sometimes slightly compressed towards the smaller end, sometimes 

 nearly equal at both ends. 



