154 INDIAN DUCKR 



still and dark and vevy deep beneath the shade of this and many 

 other trees equally big and densely-foliaged. At the end of one of 

 these boughs, and in a most ))erilous position, on a few small twigs 

 and branches, was the deserted nest of a magpie. Although knocked 

 out of shape, it still formed a strong platform of sticks and twigs, 

 on which the duck placed a little down and a few feathei-s, and 

 laid her eggs. My brothers and I were small boys at the time, and, 

 of course, with the usual curiosity of small boys, paid constant visits 

 to the nest, not in the least resented — as far as we could tell — by 

 the duck, which never quitted it or showed any signs of fear at 

 our presence. The drake was far wilder, and seldom let us get a view 

 of him. As a rule, he was swimming quietly about in the pond 

 below, whilst his mate was employed in incubation ; but more than 

 once we frightened him from the tree itself, where he must have 

 been perched on one of the big boughs. 



The duck, we noticed, always got on one of the big boughs, and 

 then fluttered and scrambled awkw ardly into the nest. We got one 

 egg out of the water, into which she must have knocked it ; but 

 she hatched some of the eggs, and we once or twice got a glimpse of 

 the ducklings on the water. 



Another curious nest I took was in Warwickshire, and was 

 originally that of a coot, of whose eggs two still remained in the 

 nest. It was placed in amongst the roots of a large tree standing 

 at th'; edge of a large piece of water, and partly in it. It consisted of 

 a huge mass of weeds and grass and the usual lining of down, but 

 in spite of its size was quite invisible from anywhere. 



The previous year the coot had been seen swimming to it, and 

 the year the duck took possession, she must have again laid two of 

 her eggs, and then been driven away by the Mallards ; these latter 

 had eight eggs, hard-set, but not so much so as the two coot's eggs, 

 which were on the point of hatching; they were under the duck's 

 eggs, and had evidently been laid first. 



There are many other instances of Mallards taking other birds' 

 nests, amongst them one in which they seized the lofty abode of a 

 rook. 



In Kashmir they are said sometimes to breed in the rice-fields. 



On leaving her nest, the duck is said to frequently cover her eggs 



