346 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
In the off season the crown and hind-neck are brown ; the 
chin turns white, and the chestnut of the head and neck is 
replaced by pale rufous-buff. 
Young birds are paler brown above, white underneath, and 
pale rufous on the side of the head and neck. 
Bill black with a white tip, greenish or yellowish at the base 
and round the gape ; iris red-brown ; legs and feet blackish- 
green, the inside of the tarsus pale olive-brown. 
Length 9 ; wing 3°9; tarsus 1°38 ; bill from gape °9. 
Distribution —-Found all over the low-country wherever 
there are suitable sheets of water ; it has been seen on the 
Nuwara Eliya Lake ; occurs throughout India and Burma. 
Habits —This species may be found in little flocks on most 
tanks and still weedy stretches of water. The breeding 
season is from May to about July. The nest is usually a 
large round blob of floating water weed, and the eggs are always 
covered over with wet weed when the bird leaves them. 
They are long narrow ovals, dull white when first laid, but 
soon discoloured as incubation proceeds. ‘The usual number is 
four or five, and the average size 1°36 by °97. 

