The Comb- Ducks. 107 



distance, then turned and came back 

 straight for me, and I killed her. She 

 was handed over to the cook, and in the 

 course of the day he came to say that 

 he had found an egg in her. It was 

 ready to be laid, and there was no appear- 

 ance of any more, so I concluded that 

 the bird had made its nest and laid all 

 its eggs but one when it had the mis- 

 fortune to fall in my way. Next day I 

 took two men with me to the place, and 

 began a systematic search for the nest. 

 There were scarcely any trees in the 

 neighbourhood, but many patches of rank 

 rushes, and among these I hunted long 

 without success. At last one of my men, 

 who was on the other side of the stream, 

 signalled to me and pointed to a hole 

 in the bank, which at that part was quite 

 perpendicular. I crossed, and, looking 

 into the hole, found sixteen eggs which 

 exactly matched the one taken out of the 

 body of the bird. They were lying on 

 a bed of twigs and quill feathers of some 

 large bird, with a little lining of down 

 and some fragments of a snake's skin. 

 The hole was about five feet from the 

 ground and two feet deep, the entrance 

 being about nine inches wide by six deep. 

 The hole went into the bank quite 



