6 INDIAN DUCKS. 



our shores. In all probability most of the birds which vi^it us breed on 

 tlie west coast of the Red Sea, and if such is the case there would be 

 nothing very remarkable in the shortness oi: the time elapsing between the 

 departure of the last birds and the arrival of the earliest ones in the 

 following September and October. 



It is, however, also just possible that the Lesser Flamingo may breed 

 with us, as Major Betham in li>09 obtiiined in Baroda eggs which I 

 think were certainly those of a Flamingo, and proVxibly those of the 

 smaller species. Captain Cox, who took the eggs, wrote : — " Found at 

 Badalpur, on the north bank of the Mahi at its mouth. No n('<t. Eggs 

 <leposited on a mound or small island in brackish water. Another clutch 

 of six existed, but they were taken by Muggurs." 



These eggs were, if I remoniber rightly, sent to me to look at, and 

 differed from other Flamingoe.-;' eggs in having practically none of the 

 chalky covering such as is usually found on them. 



It seems likely that none of the various species of Flamingoes migrate 

 to any great distance, and some, as we know, are practically peimanent 

 residents of the countries they inhabit. In vol. vi. of ' Stray Feathers ' 

 Hume has the following note on this beautiful bird : — " We know but 

 little yet of this species. I ascertained that it occurred in Scind in the 

 €arly part of the hot weather. Captain Feilden shot it in July in 

 Secunderabad. It has been seen on the great Majuffgarh Jhcd, twenty 

 miles north of Delhi, during the cold season ; and Mr. Adams has given us 

 full accounts of its occurrence in great numbers, but irregularly, at the 

 Sambhar Lake. We have no record of its occurrence in any other part 

 of Jodhpore, or in Kutch, or in Kathiawar."' 



In habits, the Lesser Flamingo seems to differ in no way from its 

 larger cousin, and is just as wary a bird as the latter. It is on the 

 Sambhar Lake alone, perhaps, that it has, as a species by itself, been 

 observed in any number in India. There it was found to be an extremely 

 wide-awake bird. Even in the middle of the day it rested well away from 

 all cover and was most difficult of apj)roach. It feeds in the manner 

 usual to the genus — that is to say in groups, the formation of which is 

 generally a long line. This line slowly advances through the shallow 

 water, the long necks of the birds covering a radius of some two feet 

 or so, as heads downwards they shovel and rake about in all directions 

 in search of food. 



The only note besides Betham's I can find regarding the nidifioation 

 of this Flamingo is that made in the Journal of the B. N. }i. S. by the 



