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



it is an unusually late breeder, May and June being the months in 

 which the eggs are laid. It is said to make a rough nest much like 

 that of the Common Teal, and to place it amongst rushes on land sur- 

 rounding swamps and various kinds of water and also on the sea-shore, 

 this last more especially in Spain. Of this latter country Colonel 

 Irby thus records their nesting in Andalusia : — " The Marbled Duck 

 breeds during the last week in May, nesting in patches of rushes. The 

 nest is like that of a Teal, containing a good deal of the down from 

 the breast of the female, and eleven eggs appear to be the usual com- 

 plement. The latter much resemble those of the Common Teal, being 

 of a yellowish white colour. Favier states that (near Tangiers) they 

 also nest in rushes during May and June, and that incubation lasts 

 from twenty-five to twenty-seven days." 



The eggs which Colonel Butler received from the Mekran coast 

 are in all probability rightly identified by him as being those of the 

 Marbled Teal. He says : " I received some small ducks' eggs from the 

 Mekran coast, which are in my opinion those of the Marbled Duck. 

 The nest was on the ground under a solitary babool bush, growing 

 on an extensive tract of salt marsh, some seven or eight miles north of 

 Ormarra, called Moorputty, and consisted, according to the account of 

 the native who foutul it, of a collection of fine twigs formed into a 

 solid pad with a few pieces of down as a lining and measuring eight or 

 nine inches in diameter. 



" The egos eioht in number, and of a delicafe cream colour were taken 

 on the 19th June, 1878. I have carefully compared them with eggs of 

 the Marbled Teal and find that they agree exactly, both in size, colour 

 and texture. They are certainly not Garganey's eggs, being too large ; 

 I know of no other duck inhabiting that district they could possibly 

 belong to except the present species. 



" They vary in size from .1*8" to 1*9" in length, and from 1*35" to 

 1-.13" in breadth." 



Barnes in his article on '' Nesting in Western India " noted that he 

 too had received some eggs from the Frere IVl useum which had come 

 from the Mekran Coast about the same time as those received by Colonel 

 Butler. He describes them as being of a creamy white, much soiled 

 and dulled by lapse of time, but he does not give their dimensions. 



( Jb he continued). 



