1 1 6 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



actually in the water. When the rains 

 are on, these small clumps form oases in 

 the centre of a watery desert, and, when 

 the floods are at their height, show merely 

 a few feet of their crests above water, on 

 one of which the ducks build their nest \ 

 a rough and ready construction of weeds, 

 sun-grass and rushes, rarely lined with 

 a few feathers. Sometimes a good many 

 twigs are used, more especially when the 

 nests are placed in babool trees, where, 

 owing to the support being less compact, 

 the nest itself is bound to be stronger and 

 better put together. The situation next 

 most often chosen as a site for the nest 

 is up one of the arms of these bheels, 

 which seldom, if ever, have deep water 

 in them, but at the same time, from 

 collecting moisture drained off the sur- 

 rounding hills, are always wet and moist. 

 In these places the canes, reeds and 

 other vegetation grow to a great height, 

 often twelve feet or more, and are so rank 

 and tangled that their tops will bear no 

 inconsiderable weight. When building 

 the nest in one of these tangles the birds 

 place it some two or three feet from the 

 top, the density of which protects it greatly 

 from rain, etc. The nest itself is of the 

 roughest description, a mere thick, coarse 



