252 INDIAN DUCKS 



the greater part of Bengal. In Assam it is less common, Init by no 

 means at all rare. Hume fonnd'it in Manipur in small numbers, 

 and I have myself seen, shot or had it recorded for me from Cachar, 

 Hylhet, and Dacca. In the Sundarbands I found it decidedly rare, 

 but have had it recorded as common by other sportsmen. In 

 Southern India it must be rare everywhere, and it seems also to be 

 rare in the extreme west, in Cutch, etc. There seem to be hardly 

 any records of the bird in Southern India, but Layard was certain 

 he had met with it in Ceylon, and it therefore may occur at odd 

 times throughout the whole of the Indian Peninsula. Wait, how- 

 ever, considers its record from Ceylon a very doubtful one. 



It is recorded from Burma by Hopwood, Harington and others, 

 but seems rare anywhere in that province. 



Nidification. — This duck breeds throughout the southern countries 

 of Europe, in parts also of Northern Africa, and in the most northern 

 parts of its Asiatic habitat, as far south as Shiraz in Persia. In 

 Europe it is found breeding occasionally in Northern Germany, 

 France, etc., but its true breeding-haunts are further south. In 

 Central Germany it is common. Hume, referring to the nests 

 taken by Dr. Baldamus, remarks : — 



" Dr. Baldamus, who has taken many nests in Central Germany, 

 all, however, on ' a pond overgrown with weeds, flags, and other 

 aquatic plants, close to the Mansfelder Salt Lake,' tells us that they 

 are always placed in the rushes or flags, usually in a small island in 

 the pond or on the flags ; and like all ducks' nests they have a 

 foundation of rotten stems, plucked rushes, or dead leaves, on which 

 a warm bed of down plucked from the breastiof the female is placed. 

 When the female leaves the nest quietly she covers her eggs, as do 

 all ducks. The eggs vary from eight to nine, ten being the excep- 

 tion, and seven only in late sittings. All his nests were taken 

 l)etween the l'2th .June and the 1st July, the latter nests being much 

 incubated, so that in this locality they probably lay from 1st May 

 to 15th June. Tlie eggs are only moderately broad ovals, without 

 gloss, a bright, somewhat olive-green when fresh and unblown (fading 

 to a dull greyish -olive or greenish-grey when blown), and measure 

 about 2'3 inches by 1'6." 



Salvin writes : — 



" In the open pools at the upper end of the marsh at Zana I 

 used to see several pair of the Red-Crested Duck. Two nests only 



