138 INDIAN DUCKS. 



dhan khet as lato as Octohor. The nests are composed of grass and 

 feathers, the latter of which the parent hirds pkick from their own 

 breasts. 



" I have fonnd as many as 14 eogs in a nest, though the usual numher 

 is 10. The parent bird sits very close when incubating, and when 

 alarmed feigns injury to a wing, as do others of the family. 



"Towards the end of the rains both old and young birds frequent more 

 open water and the flooded rice-fields. A place called the Kurram Path, 

 about 18 miles from Imphal, is a favourite breeding-ground, and towards 

 the end of the rains the ducks may there l^e seen in hundreds with flappers 

 in every stage of development." 



In another letter he remarks on the curious fact that though the normal 

 number of eggs laid is about 10, yet one never sees a family-party contain- 

 ing more than six or seven young ones, so that the percentage of addled 

 eggs or of accidents to the young after birth must be very great. 



Mr. Doig found on one occasion that otters had been responsible for the 

 destruction of a nest of eggs. He found a nest at Narra in Sind, on the 1st 

 May, which had contained 10 incubated eggs, but these, with the exception o£ 

 one, were all scattered about and broken. Before reaching the island on 

 which the nest was placed he had noticed a family of otters playing about, 

 which all bolted at his approach, and which were doubtless the culprits 

 concerned in the pillage of the nest. 



The greater number of nests are placed on the ground, well concealed 

 in rushes and grass, often at the edge of some piece of water or stream, 

 frequently on islands, and not seldom in patches of grass well away from 

 water. The ridges between rice-fields seem to be favourite places for them 

 to make their nests upon, the proximity of the food-supply doubtless being 

 the incentive to the birds to make use of such spots. 



Hume thus describes the first nest taken by him : — '" It was placed on 

 a drooping branch of a tree which hung down from the canal bank into a 

 thick clump of rushes growing in a jheel that near the bridge fringes the 

 canal. The nest was about 9 inches above the surface of the water, and 

 was firmly based on a horizontal l)ifurcation of the bough. It was com- 

 posed of dry rush and had a good deep hollow in which down, feathers, and 

 fine grass were intermingled. The nest was at least a foot in diameter, 

 perhaps more, and I suppose 2 inches thick in the centre and 4 at the sides. 

 It contained three fresh eggs." 



The number of eggs laid seems to vary considerably ; but from about 

 8 to 10 may be considered as the normal number laid, often less, but 



