10 INDIAN DUCKS 



Measurements.— Length about 32 to 34 inches, wing 12'2 to 13, tail about 

 5 or less, culnien about 4, tarsus about 7-25. 



The Young appear to be very like that of I'lianicoplerus roseas, but with 

 a more rosy and less brown or buB' tinge ; altogether brighter, paler birds. 



Distribution. — This bird is not spread over nearly so large an area 

 as is the Common Flamingo. It appears to extend through South 

 Africa on both coasts, but the extent of its range northwards on the 

 West Coast is still doubtful. In the British Museum Catalogue, 

 Salvador! marks its habitat Senegal with a " '?." In the east it is 

 found on many parts of the coast as far north as Abyssinia, and also 

 in Madagascar. From N.E. Africa it extends to N.W. India, where, 

 however, it is not found far south or far into the interior, nor is it 

 found anywhere towards the east. 



Nidification. — It has been recorded from various parts of India 

 from the end of September up to the beginning of July, and cannot 

 breed very far from our shores. In all probability most of the birds 

 which visit us breed on the west coast of the Eed Sea, and if such 

 is the case there would be nothing very remarkable in the shortness 

 of the time elapsing between the departure of the last birds and the 

 arrival of the earliest ones in the following September and October. 



It is, however, also just possible that the Lesser Flamingo may 

 actually breed with us, as General Betham in 1899 obtained in 

 Baroda eggs which I think were certainly those of a flamingo, and 

 probably those of the smaller species. Captain Cox, who took the 

 eggs, wrote : " Found at Badalpur, on the north bank of the Mahi at 

 its mouth. No nest. Eggs deposited on a mound or small island in 

 brackish water. Anothor clutch of six existed, but were taken 

 by Muggurs." 



These eggs were, if I remember rightly, sent to me to look at, 

 and differed from other flamingoes' eggs in having practically none 

 of the chalky covering such as is usually found on these. 



The only note besides Betham's I can find regarding the nidifica- 

 tion of this flamingo is that made in the ' Journal of the B.N.H.S.' 

 by the late E. Barnes, who says that he obtained an egg from a 

 fisherman, who found it on a sand-bank in the Indus. This egg, 

 from its very small size, he believed to have belonged to the present 



