36 INDIAN DUCKS 



Probably a wild bird, with no extraneous aid in the way of 

 artificial food, &c., would be a gr«at deal exhausted after such an 

 effort, but a domestic hen would not think it anything out of the 

 way, nor would she be any the worse for it. 



Hume's forty-five eggs varied from 'I'-l'I to 2'58 inches in length, 

 and in breadth between 1'65 and 1'78, averaging •2'41 X 1'7'2. The 

 little clutch found by Mr. Anderson, excluding the abnormally small 

 one, averaged 2^ X If inches, giving an average for the whole 

 84 of 2-45 X 1-74 almost. 



Jerdon says that the Nukhtas breed in Jnly or August " in grass 

 by the side of tanks, laying six to eight whitish eggs." Jerdon did 

 not, however, know, nor did he care, much about the oological part 

 of ornithology ; and I do not think much weight need be attached, as 

 a rule, to what he says about nidification. 



The breeding-time, nearly all over India, varies from the end of 

 June to the beginning of September, and probably much depends 

 on when the rains commence. In Assam, where the rains, like 

 the poor, are always with us. I think the birds begin to breed in the 

 end, or even in the beginning of June. In Bengal they commence 

 to breed in early July ; in the North-west in late July or August, 

 sometimes as late as September. In Burma they seem to breed in 

 the two first-mentioned months, and in Ceylon alone they alter their 

 habits and are said to breed in February and March. This last 

 .statement, however, is not very well authenticated, and may be a 

 mistake, for Legge says: "In Ceylon this Goose breeds, / nncler- 

 fttrnid — (the italics are mine) — in February and March." 



General Habits. — The sort of ground they prefer has been variously 

 described by different writers. In Assam they keep much to water m 

 thin forests, and more especially to such water as is well covered 

 with weeds and grasses, and not of the clearest and cleanest. One 

 or two birds were always to be met with near Diyangmukh, on a 

 nullah which runs through alternately heavy forests and open grass 

 land, but in the cold weather is reduced to shallow pools. 



Hume says : — 



" It much prefers well-wooded tracts, not dense forests like the 

 White-winged Wood-Duck, but well-wooded level, well-cultivated 

 country. It is a lake bird too, one that chiefly affects rush and 



