244 INDIAN DUCKS 



"The ^larbleil Duck l>i-eeds during the last week in May, nesting 

 in patches of rushes. The neat is like that of a teal, containing a 

 good deal of the down from the hreast of the female ; and eleven eggs 

 appear to l)e the usual complement. The latter much resemble those 

 of the common teal, being of a yellowish-white colour. Favier states 

 that (near Tangiers) they also nest in rushes during May and June, 

 and tliat inculcation lasts from twenty-five to twenty-seven days." 



The eggs which Colonel Butler received from the Mekran Coast 

 are, in all probability, rightly identified by him as being those of the 

 Marbled Teal. He says : — 



"I received some small duck's eggs from the Mekran Coast, which 

 are, in my opinion, those of the Marbled Duck. The nest was on 

 the ground under a solitary babool bush, growing on an extensive 

 tract of salt marsh, some seven or eight miles north of Ormarra, 

 called Moorputty, and consisted, according to the account of the 

 native who found it, of a collection of fine twigs formed into a solid 

 pad with a few pieces of down as a lining, and measuring eight or 

 nine inches in diameter. 



"The eggs, eight in number, and of a delicate cream-colour, were 

 taken on the 19th June, 1878. I have carefully compared them 

 with eggs of the Marbled Duck, and find that they agree exactly, 

 l)oth in size, colour and texture. They are certainly not Garganey's 

 eggs, being too large ; I know of no other duck inhabiting that 

 district they could possibly belong to except the present species. 



" They vary in size from I'B to 1'9 inches in length, and from 

 r35 to 1'43 in breadth." 



Barnes, in his article on ' Nesting in Western India,' noted 

 that he, too, had received some eggs from the Frere Museum ■which 

 had come from the Mekran Coast about the same time as those 

 received by Colonel Butler. He describes them as being of a 

 creamy-white, much soiled and dulled by lapse of time, but he 

 does not give their dimensions. 



The first absolutely certain record, however, of this bird's breeding 

 in India, is that of Mr. A. B. Aitken, who writes : — 



" On the Khushdil Lake, near Pishin, the largest proportion 

 of the few ducks left were Marbled Teal, which had apparently 

 made up their minds to breed. About June I observed a couple 

 of birds which had paired off frequenting a small island. These 

 two remained together and did not stay with the other Marbled 

 Teal. I did not find their nest. I think it was in August, though 

 I do not recollect the date, that while in a boat on the lake, on 



