242 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XI I. 



other hand the nost is very prhnitive and consists of only a few of the 

 materials mentioned, just loosely placed in some hollow in the 

 ground. 



Dresser, as quoted by Hume, says : *' The eggs are deposited late in 

 lilay or early in June, the locality selected for the purpose of nidifi- 

 cation being sometimes close to the water's edge and at others some 

 distance from it ; for Mr. Colley informs me that he found a nest on 

 the foils, not far from the town of Lillebammer, which was under a 

 juniper bush, at least 8C'0 yards from the water. The nest is a mere 

 depression or hole scratched in the ground and well Tmed with down 

 and a few feathers, intermixed with a little moss or a few grass bents. 

 A nest which I possess consists of a little moss matted together with 

 down, the latter being of a dark sooty brown colour, the centre of the 

 down being rather lighter or a dark sooty grey, and a few feathers of 

 the bird are interspersed here and there." 



'•* The eofcrs are creamy white in colour and oval in shape, tapering 

 slightly towards the smaller end." 



In rather strong contrast to the above " mere depression or hole " is 

 Mr. Wolley's description of a Wigeon's nest : "A nest is an extremely 

 pretty sight, even when separated from its native bank and all the 

 accompaniments of flowers, roots, moss and lichen." 



The number of eggs is normally six to eight or sometimes ten. 

 Morris says five to eight, Meyer ten to twelve. In colour they vary from 

 a pale cream so faint as to appear white to a rather warm cream or 

 buff, generally the former. Hume's eggs measured 2-1''' to 2-3" in lenj;th 

 and 1'5" to 1*6" in breadth. The texture is, of course, fine and fairly 

 close, with the surface inclined to be glossy. Incubation is said to last 

 about 24 days. 



Two eggs in my own collection, which come from Lapland, are 

 smallerthanany of Hume's, measuring 2-05" X 1*5" and 2-00" X 1'45". 

 Both these eggs are also unusually glossy. 



Genus NETTION. 



Th^ o-enus JVettium or Nettion is one of the largest in the order 

 Che)i.omoi'ph<x. As restricted by Salvadori, there are seventeen species 

 contained in it, of which throe only are found in India. The range of 

 the (Tonus is cosmopolitan, and it contains species both resident and 

 migratory, both of which are represented in India. 



