her eggs. Only one brood is reared in the year; but if the tu.t nest be 

 destroyed, a second is usually made, though the number of eggs laid in it is 

 fewer. Two or three nests are often found on the same island in fairly clow 

 proximity, but this is owing to the scarcity of suitable sites rather than to any 

 sociable instinct. 



The eggs laid by the Red-breasted Merganser vary in number from 

 seven to twelve, though nine is perhaps the usual clutch. They are greyish 

 olive-green in colour, rather lighter than those of the Pheasant, and are rather 

 glossy and smooth in the grain. They vary from 27 to 2-3 inches in length, 

 and from 1-9 to r$ inch in breadth. The down is very pale brownish grey, 

 with somewhat indistinct pale tips and centres. 



Young in down are dark brown on the upper parts, shading into chestnut 

 on the sides of the neck and on the head. There is a white patch on each 

 wing, one on each side of the back between the shoulders, and one on 

 each side of the rump. The under parts are white, as also are the lores, 

 which are margined above and below with dark brown. 



107 



