98 INDIAN DUCKS. 



than usual, but not romark;ibly so, and the difforonco in tlic size of their 

 eggs is not half so great as is that l)et\veen the two species of birds 

 themselves. 



The only note in Oates's edition of Hume's *• Nests and Eggs ' is of a 

 nest found at Saugor, C.P., and taken from a large hollow in an old tree. 

 The hollow was well lined with twigs, grass, and a few feathers. The 

 eggs, seven in number, varied between 2*12 and '1"27) inches, and between 

 1*65 and 1'75 in breadth. They breed in most places in July and 

 August ; in Nadia I took the nest at the end of June — I forget the date ; 

 and in Rungpur they l)reed principally in August, a few in September. 



I have never taken more than 10 eggs from any nest, and think six to 

 eight is the number most often laid, and I have taken four quite hard-set. 



I have noticed that there is a A'ery general tendency to overestimate 

 the number of eggs laid by all gam(>-ljirds, whether land or Avater ; why 

 this should be so I cannot tell, but that it /.v so cannot be doubted. Thus 

 the majority of quails lay four eggs, few more than six ; jungle-fowl lay 

 five or six, often only two or three, sometimes eight or more, but this is 

 the exception ; bush- and bamboo-partridges almost invariably four or fiAe. 

 Of nearly all these birds, writers — generally anonymous, at other times good 

 sportsmen but bad observers — have noticed their laying douWe the number 

 and put that down as the normal number in a clutch. 



After this digression, to return to the Whistling-TeaFs eggs. They 

 vary in no way from those of the smallei- bird, though Oates says that 

 they are perhaps of superior smoothness. This has not struck me, and 

 I certainly could not discriminate between a small egg of D. fidva and a 

 large one of D. jacanira. When first laid they are a pure pearly white, 

 often showing a slight gloss ; this gloss goes off very quickly, and soon the 

 eggs take a very faint greyish or yellowish tint, the shade depending, 

 I think, on the water the pair of birds frequent and the material of which 

 the nest is made. I have a clutch of eggs taken from a nest made 

 principally of, and lined entirely with, rank weeds, and these eggs are 

 faint, but distinct, yellowish underneath and pale greyish above. The 

 normal shape of the egg is a very broad regular oval, but little smaller at 

 one end than the other. Abnormal eggs are generally longer in shape, 

 but I have seen none at all ])ointed. They are fine and smooth in texture, 

 but inclined to be chalky and not very close-grained. 



Twenty-five of my eggs average 2*09 x 1*69 inches. The smallest 

 T have ever taken was 1'84 x 1*5() and the largest 2*40 x 2*0 1 ; but neither 

 of these is now in my collection. 



