IDENTIFICATION OF DUCKS' EGGS. 



28 



but frequently on an island. The eggs are cream- 

 coloured, the down is dark, with no particular charac- 

 teristic, but the feathers are unmistakable, being white 

 sometimes with grey centres, which spread to the top of 

 the web (PI. I., Figs. 8, 8). The down of the American 

 Wigeon is much darker, and the centres not so distinct. 



Common Pochard (Fuligula ferina). — The down of 

 this bird is large and exceedingly soft to the touch ; the 

 eggs are of a dirty greenish colour, and might easily be 

 mistaken for those of the Scaup, or the Tufted Duck, 

 although they are usually larger than the former, and 

 considerably larger than the latter. Nests I have seen 

 in Scotland were placed in thick dead rushes on or close 

 to the edge of a loch, and they might almost have been 

 mistaken for Coots' nests, for in two instances there was 

 not a particle of down present, although the eggs were 

 on the point of hatching.* In Spain we noticed a nest 

 in the middle of a swamp, thickly lined with down, which 

 was damp at the bottom. In the North, incubation com- 

 mences about the middle of May. The feathers found 

 in the nests are rather large and brownish in colour, 

 slightly streaked from the centre upwards, and often 

 tipped for a quarter of an inch with grey (PL I., Figs. 9, 9). 



Explanation of Plate I. 



Figs. 



1 



2, 2 

 3 



4, 4 



5, 5 



6, 6 

 7,7 



8, 8 



9, 9 



Feathei's from 



Nest of. 



Sheld-duck 



Mallard 



Gadwall 



Shoveler 



Teal 



Garganey 



Pintail 



Wigeon 



Pochard 



Where 

 taken. 



Norfolk 



Berkshire 



Norfolk 



Norfolk 



Norfolk 



Norfolk 



Scotland 



Scotland 



Scotland 



When 

 taken. 



3.6.1903 

 31.3.1901 

 23.5.1901 

 8.5.1897 

 8.5.1897 

 17.5.1899 

 18.5.1899 

 26.5.1896 

 22.5.1899 



By whom 

 taken. 



H. Noble. 



* Since the above was written, I have had particulars of seven more 

 nests placed in thick rushes, in which no down was present. I have 

 several times noticed that Mallards' nests have no down when placed 

 in such positions. I should be very glad to know the experience of 

 other readers of British Birds on this point. 



{To he continued.) 



