196 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



regard to the situation chosen by this 

 species for its nest differs considerably 

 from the statement in the last edition of 

 Yarrell, that ' in the Broad district in 

 Norfolk, the densest reed-beds are pre- 

 ferred.' About Hickling Broad, where I 

 have had ample opportunities of observing 

 them during the summer, I remarked 

 that the eggs were usually laid in the 

 patches of rushes in the unreclaimed 

 marshes, at some little distance from the 

 water, not a single nest having, to the 

 best of my knowledge, ever been detected 

 in a reed-bed. Now and then the birds 

 were known to have bred among the long 

 coarse grass and tufts of rushes on the 

 dryer portion of the hills surrounding 

 the broads, but, as a rule, they go further 

 from their usual haunts." 



I again quote from Seebohm :^ 

 " Like most other Ducks, the adult 

 Garganeys pair in mid-winter, but the 

 young not until spring. The first eggs 

 are seldom laid before May. The nest 

 is placed in a variety of positions — hidden 

 under a bush or in thick grass or sedge ; 

 far away from water in the forest or 

 among the corn : anywhere and every- 

 where where a hidden retreat can be 

 found. . . . The nest is made very deep. 



