104 INDIAN DUCKS 



" On the 2nd June, 1908, on my way down IVom Gyantse to 

 Pluiri, I left the main road, whfeh skirts the Northern sliore of the 

 Hramtso — a lake 14,700 feet above sea level, and some eight miles 

 long by four broad — and travelled round tiie southern side, halting 

 for two days at the village of Hram. The southern shore of this 

 lake is bordered by a belt of marsh about two miles broad in its 

 widest parts. On this marsh thousands of Bar-Headed Geese breed, 

 and it was the hope of being able to visit their nests that brought me 

 here. The villagers of Hram annually collect hundreds of these eggs, 

 and sell them at the rate of thirty for a rupee to men who carry 

 them to different parts of Tibet for sale. This year, however, for 

 religious reasons, the killing of all game and the taking of the eggs 

 of wild birds has been prohibited by the Lhasa Government, and so 

 I was fortunate in finding the birds more or less undisturbed. On 

 arriving at the village I sent for some men who could show me where 

 the nests were, and we walked the mile between tlie village and the 

 edge of the lake, carrying with us a flat-bottomed Tibetan skin-boat. 

 This we launched at the edge of the lake, and I was pushed across 

 a few hundred yards of clear water which was only about two feet 

 deep. Here we were on the marsh and could see dry islands ahead 

 of us, white w'ith thousands of geese. The nearest of these islands 

 was about a quarter of a mile avfay, but we were at least a quarter 

 of an hour covering this distance. Every step one sank in up to the 

 thighs in mud, and at that elevation frequent rests were necessary. 

 I was told that we were having luck in crossing the marsh, as, if the 

 wind had been blowing from the north, that is, from the deeper part 

 of the lake towards the marsh, the water would have been banked 

 up on the marsh and it would have been too deep to be passable. 

 As we neared the first island, my guides pointed out the tracks of 

 men over the marsh, who, they told me, must have come by night, 

 disobeying the orders from Lhasa regarding the taking of eggs this 

 year ; but I suspect that my guides themselves had taken a few eggs 

 for their own consumption, as a stranger would be sure to get lost, 

 the marsh being imi:)assable in many places. At last we reached 

 the first nests. They were situated on a grassy island about two 

 feet higher than the marsh. This island was circular and about 

 twenty yards in diameter and contained fifteen nests. The nest 

 consists of a slight hollow in the grass plentifully lined with down 

 which is banked up round it. The nests contain from two to eight 

 eggs, the commonest number being four, and the number of birds 

 in the broods that are seen all along the roadside on the Northern 

 shore of the lake is almost invariably four. I am inclined to think 

 that when there are more than four eggs in a nest, some are bad 

 ones wliich were laid possibly by another bird, as some of the eggs 

 in a nest containing more than four eggs are always very discoloured 



