NETTA liUFINA 253 



were obtained. The second lot, consisting of seven eggs, were of a 

 brilliant fresh green colour when unblown ; the contents were no 

 sooner expelled and the eggs dry than the delicate tints were gone 

 and their beauty sadly diminished." 



The nest is a large coarsely-made structure, which seems to be 

 made invariably of practically nothing but rushes and soft water- 

 plants. Twigs, dry grass, and other materials got from land are but 

 little used, and it is probable that much of what is used is subaquatic 

 stuff and is got by diving. The lining o^ down and feathers is usually 

 very dense and thick, completely covering the eggs. 



As a rule the duck selects as a site for her nest some siuall pond 

 well covered with weeds and vegetation, or some patch of water in 

 fen or marsh-land, well isolated and free from observation and inter- 

 ference. I have come across no notes on these birds' nidification to 

 show that they ever breed on the edges of larger or more open pieces 

 of water, and these they seem as a rule to avoid during the breeding- 

 season, unless, perhaps, for purposes of feeding. Wide marshes and 

 fens, with pools scattered here and there in amongst the bog and 

 scrub-covered land, would appear to be their favourite resorts. 



When fresh, the eggs are a beautiful clear green stone-colour, 

 and have a decided gloss, but lose both their bright tints, and gloss 

 soon after being blown. The texture is smooth, fine, and close, but 

 the shell is rather fragile for the size of the egg, and this would 

 appear to be the case with most pochards' eggs. 



In shape they may be either rather long or rather broad ovals, 

 very regular in shape, and with both ends practically the same in 

 size. 



The majority of birds breed in May and early June ; very few, 

 it would seem, as early as the end of April. The number of eggs is 

 most often eight or ten, but they vary from only six to at least 

 fourteen in a few instances. 



General Habits. — Although so many of these ducks have their 

 home quite close to India, yet they are, on the whole, rather late 

 arrivals, coming into the north and North-west India in the latter 

 part of October, and into Bengal and further south not until well 

 into November, though Inglis records an arrival in Behar on the 

 •2ist July, 1917, a most unusual occurrence. In Assam and Manipur, 



