MAKEC'A L'ENKLUI'K 191 



The uumber of eggs is normally to y or sometimes 10. 

 Morris says 5 to S, Meyer 10 to 12. In colour they vary from a 

 pale-cream, so faint as to appear white, to a rather warm creaui 

 or buff, generally the former. Hume's eggs measured '2'1 to 2'8 

 inches in length, and 1"5 to l"(j in breadth. The texture is, of 

 course, fine and fairly close, with the surface inclined to be glossy, 

 incubation is said to last about twenty-four days. 



Two eggs in my collection, which come from Lapland, arc 

 smaller than any of Hume's, measuring 'i'OS X I'o inches and 

 200 X 1'4J. Both these eggs are also unusually glossy. 



General Habits. — It will be noticed that in certain localities in 

 India one person records this duck as being very plentiful, whilst 

 another, who may be an equally good observer and naturalist, says 

 it is never found. This is due to the fact that the Wigeon is most 

 irregular in its visits, and whilst it comes one year in hundreds 

 and even thousands to certain parts, yet these localities may be 

 hunted in vain the following season for a single specimen. 



Notes recorded by various ornithologists and sportsmen would 

 seem to show that in years of heavy rainfall the AVigeon does not 

 visit India in the same numbers as it does in drier years. 



Thus, Keid writes of Oudh : — 



"The Wigeon is by no means uncommon, though it is, I think, 

 rather erratic in its wantlerings, l)eiDg much more common in some 

 seasons than in others. During the past cold weather for instance, 

 when the jhils were much below the average size, and many of the 

 smaller ones altogether dry, I did not expect to meet with it ; but as 

 a matter of fact, it was much more common than I had ever known 

 it to he before.' 



Again, Vidal : — 



" Wigeon, in some years, are very abundant on the Vashishti 

 River, congregating in large flocks of 500 birds or more, but they 

 are not, like Common Teal, widely distributed. In 1878-79, after 

 the highest rainfall on record, not a Wigeon was to be found in 

 the district ; but in 1879-80, after a year of moderate rainfall, 

 tiiey reappeared in their usual strength on the Vashishti." 



Davidson notes it as rare in Mysore, but Major MacInro>- says 

 that a fair number may be met with in parts. The only way I can 

 at all account for the Wigeon being more common in dry than 



