<)8 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



are now in the collections of Messrs. 

 Tristram, Simpson, J. Wolley and myself. 

 Though the Arabs were aware of the 

 habits of this bird, we did not succeed in 

 obtaining any more eggs." 



Canon Tristram, also writing of 

 Northern Africa, says : " At Bou Guizoun 

 I captured some half-dozen nestlings of 

 various ages in the downy state, some of 

 them scarcely more than a day old ; and 

 yet the only place where they could possibly 

 have bred, and where we had procured a 

 nest three days previously, was a range of 

 cliffs more than twelve miles distant." 



Messrs. Elwes and Buckley found this 

 Duck common in the Dobrudscha, and 

 write: " In its habits it resembles the 

 Common Shell-drake, but is more fond of 

 fresh water and of inland ranges of rocks, 

 whither it resorts in the breeding-season. 

 The nest is very difficult to find, as it is 

 always in a hole, sometimes in the middle 

 of a corn-field, and the male bird keeps 

 watch near by to call the female off her 

 eggs when any one approaches/' 



Lastly Colonel Prjevalsky tells us how 

 these birds nest in Mongolia. He re- 

 marks : " During migration these Ducks 

 assemble in large flocks of over a hundred, 

 but never mix with any other kind. Each 



