636 JOVRNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



markings are primary and secondary, the former being rusty or chestnut red the 

 latter inky purple. The distribution and definition of the markings varies con- 

 siderably, in most eggs these being most clearly defined and heavy at the large 

 end, though a number of both primary and secondary markings are found all 

 over the egg. Sometimes the spots are very clearly defined, in other eggs they 

 are diffuse and cloudy and at times tend to coalesce. I have seen no other eggs 

 that could possibly be confused with the common spheroidal form, and I doubt 

 if even the only elongated clutch could be matched by any other eggs from India 

 or Burma. Although Messrs. Smith and Marlow's eggs are a good deal larger 

 and more beautifully marked than the single egg in Mr. Stuart Baker's collection 

 [vide Ibis, January 1919, page 157) it is probable that his specimen is authentic. 

 The birds swim and fly well, and ordinarily are very duck like in their habits, 

 swimming freely but with something of the action of a swimming coot, as they 

 progress in a rather jerky manner and the head is continually bobbed forward. 

 When frightened or winged, the bird swims semi-submerged^ only the head and 

 neck showing above water, much as a snake-bird {Plotus melanogaster) swims. 

 I may add that the specimen sent to Rangoon is thriving in the water fowl 

 aviary and though still nervous associates with the duck and teal. On land 

 it runs rapidly like a rail and takes to the thickest cover it can find, Messrs . 

 Smith, Marlow and I estimate that the breeding ground discovered by them 

 cannot be less than 500 square milea in extent, and they have heard the 

 bubbling call for a distance of 50 linear miles. As the bird is well knOAvn to the 

 villagers there must be many hundred pairs breeding. 



The nests found so far have all been close to villages, which are not numerous 

 as may be expected from the nature of the comitry, and as the villagers search 

 for and eat the eggs in any case, and have done so for years, there is little dan- 

 ger of the breeding stock being reduced, as hundreds of birds must nest in the 

 inaccessible portions of these vast swamps. Messrs. Smith and Marlow offer a 

 reward which whilst making it worth a man's while to report the nest in pre- 

 ference to eating the eggs is not sufficient to induce nest hunting on an extensive 

 scale, and ornithologists may rest assured that nothing is being done to harass 

 the birds miduly. I append a list of measurements of the eggs taken so far ; 

 all measurements in inches. 



Mr, T. Marlow, July 27th, 1920. Brought' to Mr. Marlow on August 6th, 1920. 



First dutch. 



Mr. 



Mi\ 



