332 INDIAN DUCKS 



" The eggs are from six or seven to nine, ten, or eleven in 

 numljer, of a rich reddish yellow" or In-ownish fawn colour. As soon 

 as the females begin to sit, the males quit them for the season. The 

 species appears to be late in its nidification, scarcely beginning to 

 build before the end of May or the early part of June. The bird 

 sits very close, and will allow herself to Ije trodden on before she 

 will leave the nest." 



With this summary of Morris's most writers agree, but the eggs 

 are said to vary from five to fifteen in number, and many authors 

 remark on the fact that the nest of this Merganser is. cinnparatireh/, 

 perhaps unusually, well put together and compact. All note the 

 carious way in which the down is felted in with the rest of the 

 materials into the body of the nest, as well as being used as a copious 

 lining. 



It should be noted that, in Holstein, Boje found this bird breed- 

 ing in crows' old nests. 



The eggs in my collection vary in length between 'i'SQ and '2'65 

 inches, and in breadth only between 1"7 and 1'76. They are very 

 similar to the eggs of the Goosander, but are, on the whole, rather 

 broader ovals ; all are somewhat darker in colour, and two have a 

 well-defined greenish tint. One clutch was taken on the '29th April, 

 1899, another on the 10th June, 1880, and the third -ind July, 

 1898. 



General Habits. — The habits of this bird vary little from those of 

 the last, the main thing about it being the fact that it is more essen- 

 tially a sea-bii-d. Like the Goosander, it generally associates in 

 rather small flocks, but may occasionally be seen in parties numbering 

 as many as '200 or even more. 



Dresser, writing of this bird, observes : — 



" In the Gulf of Bothnia, where the sea is fresh-water, I found it 

 extremely common in the summer season, frequenting the coasts, 

 and, less often, the inland lakes, but usually in places where the 

 forests extended down to the shores, and frequently in localities 

 where there are reeds or dense herbage, as is frequently the case on 

 poi'tions of the coast. It is a wary and shy bird, soon taking alarm, 

 and not easy to approach within range ; but I often obtained them 

 when out very early in the morning about sunrise, when they 

 appeared less shy than otherwise. It is a very expert diver ; and on 

 thd coast of New Brunswick I observed tiiem fishing in flocks at the 



