DENDEOCYCXA FULVA. 97 



little hillock where there had been bnilt the dirty and desolate little hut of 

 some fisher-family. This had been deserted, probably the preceding- year, 

 and the Whistlino-Teal reioned over the knoll and its contents. 



One nest, from its size and construction, must have been made by 

 a Fishing-Eagle, numbers of which breed in these same haunts, and 

 doubtless also vary their usual tliet with a duckling every now and then. 



In Nadia, I took one nest of this species only, and I do not remember 

 seeing any more of these birds in that district. Krishnaghar, the head- 

 quarters town of Nadia, evidently once boasted a sporting community, 

 as there is a racecourse — and a good one too— about a mile and a half 

 from the station. Dotted here and there about the centre, and on the 

 outskirts of this racecourse, there are a number of small tanks, all densely 

 covered with weeds and surrounded by a thick fringe of bushes and trees, 

 Avhich afforded good cover to hare, jackals, and now and then a leopard. 

 Overlianoino- one of these tanks and encroachino- into the water itself was 

 a fine banyan tree, and over the water_, and resting on a number of 

 branches which crossed and recrossed one another, a pair of Whistling- 

 Teal had made their nest. It was quite an ideal place for a nest ; the 

 branches projected well over a deep tank, and, though supported by 

 the numerous roots which had grown down from them, were yet not 

 strong enough to bear the weight of a man. In addition to this, the 

 brambles were so fearfully dense round the trees that it was an awful 

 business to get to it. Eventually, after two visits had been made, we cut 

 a narrow pathway through the jungle and sent an adventurous small boy 

 up into the tree, who succeeded in clambering out to the nest and letting 

 the eggs down in his puggree, or head-cloth. 



In Runoijur I found them selectino- bif>' trees, and oenerallv makino- 

 their nests high u}) in them, some thirty feet or so from the ground. One 

 nest I took from a large hollow in a dead tree. All the nests I saw in 

 the district were made \n trees growing beside the ditches which I have 

 referred to in describing the Cotton-Teal's nest. 



I have never seen their nests on the ground, but anyone hunting for 

 them should not overlook the fact that they may be found to sometimes 

 place their nests thus. 



Barnes, vide his article on " Nesting in Western India," found this 

 bird breeding at Hyderabad in Sind, and saw one nest which was placed 

 in a babool tree, in the very centre of a large and deei> jhil. Barnes 

 doubted the authenticity of the eggs in his collection on account of their 

 small size, and says that they measured I'O 1)y I'G inches. This is smaller 



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