444 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



Morris in " Nests and Eggs of British Birds'' says : " Of this species 

 also, the nost is placed by the margin of, or at no great distance from, 

 water, lakes, ponds, and seas, and is composed of grass and reeds, with 

 a little lining of down. Some have been found in ditches and even 

 in standing corn ; it is always well concealed. 



" These ducks pair in April. 



" From six to eight or nine eggs are laid. The young are hatched 

 in about twenty-three days. They at once repair to the water." 



The nest is usually well concealed amidst the scrub and coarse 

 weeds and grass and takes a considerable amount of searching to 

 discover, but the duck sits very close and often rises at one's feet almost, 

 thus disclosing the position which might otherwise escape detection. 



The eggs vary from sis to ten in number being usually six to eight 

 and occasionally only five are laid. 



In colour they are a dull pale greenish stone colour, in a few, yellow- 

 ish stone, but all dull and all pale with no very definite colour such 

 as some ducks' eggs have. There is a slight gloss, sometimes rather 

 pronounced, and I have seen none entirely glossless. The texture is 

 extremely fine and close and the shell perhaps rather thinner in pro- 

 portion to the size of the eggs than are the majority of eggs of the 

 Anatinoe. 



My eggs seem to average rather large ; I have a clutch given me by 

 Herr. M. Kuschel, and collected. I believe, in East Prussia, which 

 averages 2*24" x 1'6", the biggest is 2-27"xl-62". A number of other 

 eggs I have measured have been well over 2 "20" and I bave seen 

 none under 2*1". 



The eggs collected in Finland both by Wolley and Dresser had 

 their measurements recorded as 2"xl'5", but the eggs Golleeted by the 

 latter in Jutland measured 2"22"xl'4". 



Genus QUERQUEDULA. 



The distinctive feature of the Genus Querqiiedvla is the bright blue- 

 grey colour of the wing coverts which in two species, Discors and 

 Cyanoplera, are a bright smalt blue. The Common Teal, Nettion 

 crecca, used to be placed in this genus, but Nettion differs from Quer- 

 quedida in the shape of the bill, which is equal in breadth throughout 

 its length, whereas in the latter it is slightly broader at the tip and 

 also has the nail somewhat larger in proportion. 



