y06 INDIAN DUCKS 



A few eggs are said to have a very faint greeu tinge. 

 Most eggs are almost perfect eHipses, a fewhaving one end rather 

 smaller than the other. 



Hartert gives the measurement of seventy eggs as follows : — 



Average 66'35 X 507 mm. ( = 2'61 x 2'00 inches). 



Maxima 71' 4 x 48'5 mm. (= 2_S1_ x 1'92 inches) anrl 



68'1 x .5££nim. (= 2"68 x £7 inches). 



Minima (i£S x ,52"0 mm. (= £J6 x 2'li inches) and 



(;6'0 X 4Sllmm. {^ 2'6 x 1_D inches). 



General Habits. — As regards its habits, we have very little on 

 record as far as India is concerned. Finn notes: — 



" In habits the Stiff-Tail resembles a grebe rather than a duck. 

 It is more ready to dive than to fly, swims low with its tail raised, 

 and it is said to be unable to walk — though this I doubt — though I 

 have only had a cripple to study. This bird resembled a grebe in its 

 remarkable tameness." 



Captain Sherwood writes in the " B.X.H.S. Journal' : — 



" This bird was very little longer, if any, than a common teal, but 

 much bigger, and presented a stumpy appearance, very ugly and 

 ungainly. The wings were hardly more than six inches in length. 

 The birds were shot in deep water, in a nullah, which they refused 

 to leave after being ]iut u)). and after a short swift fliglit they settled 

 again." 



Some interesting notes are also given of the female already 

 referred to as having been shot by Captain Macnab. He says : — 



"On getting closer, however, thougli its bill and the carriage of 

 its head gave it the appearance of a duck, its tail, which it carried 

 cocked at right-angles to its body, and its habit of constantly diving 

 and remaining under the surface for a considerable time, led me to 

 doubt if it was a duck at all ... I determined to shoot it for 

 the sake of identification. 



... As I approached, a hawk came on the scene and 

 hovered over it, evidently imagining that it had found its breakfast ; 

 and I sat down to see what would happen, and in order to watch the 

 bird more intently before shooting it. What did happen was that 

 whenever the hawk poised itself in the air preparatory to attacking, 

 the duck dived under continually, and, on reappearing after some 

 twenty or thirty seconds, immediately disappeared again, keeping 

 all the time very much in the same place. 



