ANAS BOSCAS. 131 



visits to the nest, not in the least resented — as far as we could tell — h\ the 

 dtick, which never quitted it or showed any signs of fear at our presence. 

 The drake was far wilder and seldom let us get a view of him. As a rule 

 he was swimming quietly about in the pond below whilst his mate was 

 employed in incubation; but more than once we frightened him from the 

 tree itself, where he must have been perched on one of the big boughs. 



The duck, we noticed, always got on one of the big boughs and then 

 fluttered and scrambled awkwardlv into the nest. We got one eo-ff out of 

 the water, into which she must have knocked it ; but she hatched some of 

 the eggs, and we once or twice got a glimpse of the ducklings on the 

 Avater, 



Another curious nest I took was in AVarwickshire, and was originally 

 that of a Coot, of whose eggs two still remained in the nest. It was 

 placed in amongst the roots of a large tree standing at the edge of a large 

 piece of water, and partly in it. It consisted of a huge mass of weeds and 

 grass and was quite invisible from anywhere. 



The prcA-ious year the Coot had been seen swimming to it. and the year 

 the duck took possession she must have again laid two of her eggs, and 

 then Ijeen driven away by the Mallards ; these latter had eight eggs, hard- 

 set, but not so much so as the two Goof's eggs, which were on the point of 

 hatching; they were under the duck's eggs and had evidently been laid 

 first. 



There are many other instances of Mallards taking other birds* nests, 

 amongst them one in which they seized on the lofty abode of a rook. 



In Kashmir it is said to breed sometimes in the rice-fields. 



On leaving her nest, the duck is said to frequently cover her eggs with 

 w'eeds and grasses to screen them from observation. This is, however, 

 probably the exception and not the rule. I have seen eggs so covered, 

 but far more often I have found them without any additional cover at all. 

 If Imrrietl, the bird has not the time, of coarse, to collect the necessary 

 material, but even when leaving the nest deliberately, and not disturbed 

 in any way, I think she generally leaves her eggs as they lie. 



They lay from six to twelve eggs, the natives say sixteen. I have 

 never seen more than eleven, and Hume, who through his collectors must 

 have had records of many hundreds of nests, never knew of more than 

 eleven, so that anything above this number would appear to be abnormal. 



In colour, the eo-os when first laid are of various tints, ranuino; from 

 a very pale greyish-green to olive-grey and cafe-au-lait. As incubation 

 proceeds, the colour continues to deepen, and the green tinge, which is the 



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