FOR NORTHERN INDIA 148 



nests. The majority of them lay their eggs 

 in July, so that in August they are occupied 

 with their young. 



The cotton-teal (Nettopus coromandelianus) 

 usually lays its eggs in a hole in a mango or 

 other tree. The hollow is sometimes lined 

 with feathers and twigs. It is not very high 

 up as a rule, from six to twelve feet above the 

 ground being the usual level. The tree selected 

 for the nesting site is not necessarily close to 

 water. Thirteen or fourteen eggs seem to be 

 the usual clutch, but as many as twenty-two 

 have been taken from one nest. Young teal, 

 when they emerge from the egg, can swim and 

 walk, but they are unable to fly. No European 

 seems to have actually observed the process 

 whereby they get from the nest to the ground 

 or the water. It is generally believed that the 

 parent birds carry them. Mr. Stuart Baker 

 writes that a very intelligent native once told 

 him that, early . one morning, before it was 

 light, he was fishing in a tank, when he saw 

 a bird flutter heavily into the water from a 

 tree in front of him and some twenty paces 

 distant. The bird returned to the tree, and 

 again, with much beating of the wings, 

 fluttered down to the surface of the tank ; 



