I 



INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 619 



always placed either very close to the water or in the water itself amongst 

 the vegetation growing in the shallows. Inside the nest there are, of 

 course, feathers and down in greater or smaller amounts, frequently 

 not much ; but, in addition to this, there appears generally to he a sort of 

 subsidiary lining composed of finer grasses and weeds than are used 

 in the body of the nest. This characteristic of the nest is rather 

 marked in contrast to the majority of other ducks' nests, but it is well 

 authenticated and worthy of notice. 



Where the birds are most numerous, several nests may be found in 

 close proximity to one another ; and as the birds are close sitters, finding 

 them is a matter of little diflB-Culty. 



In Kashmir the first few birds breed in the end of April, but not 

 many till the beginning of June, and it is in this month that the re- 

 gular trade in their eggs commences. They appear to lay from six to 

 ten eggs, possibly one or two more occasionally ; but such occasions 

 cannot be frequent, as Hume's collectors never succeeded in finding 

 more than ten. 



In the basin of the Mediterranean they would seem sometimes to 

 place their nests in cover some little distance from the water, for Lord 

 Lilford who found their nests in Southern Spain writes : — " We obtained 

 a nest of nine eggs, from which I shot the female bird. The nest was 

 at a short distance from the water, in high rushes, and was composed 

 of dead, dry-water plants, flags, &c., and lined with thick brownish- 

 white down, and a few white feathers." 



In Europe also it is said to sometimes lay twelve eggs, and I have one 

 record from Turkey of fourteen eggs having been laid in a nest. 

 This nest also, I may add, was placed a considerable distance from 

 water, in amongst bushes. 



The colour of the egg varies from pale drab to a quite deep cafS au 

 laitj the latter colour being unusual. In a few eggs there is a faint 

 yellow or greenish tinge, but the greatly predominating tint is a brown 

 or cafe au lait, and nine out of ten will be found to be of this. 



The shape is, jis a rule, rather a long oval, very regular, and they vary 

 but little. Hume says : — " They are commonly very regular and perfect 

 ovals, moderately broad as a rule, but occasionally considerably elon- 

 gated and f-lightly compressed towards one end." In my small series I 

 have no eggs thus compressed ; all are just about the same at either end. 



