154 • INDIAN DUCKS. 



tlie end o£ Aj)ril. Aoain. a pair of birds were reported as having been shot, 

 in Kashmir in June (date ?), but the person who shot them, finding the 

 ovaries "very attenuated," jumped to the conclusion that tlie birds could 

 not have been breeding. Is it possible that the eggs had been laid? 



It has been noted as breeding in the British Isles, and also in Norway 

 and Sweden ; indeed it has been found to nest as far north as Iceland, and 

 there is a doubtful record of its having been found in Greenland. Its usual 

 breeding-habitat is, however, far more south : throughout Southern 

 Europe from Spain to Russia — not in Northern Africa, as far as we yet 

 know. — in North-west Asia, in the sub- Arctic regions, and in North America, 

 where it has been foimd during the breeding-season as far south as 

 Texas. 



Its nest is much like that of the Mallard or of the Spotted-billed Duck, 

 but, unlike the former, I have never heard or read of its breeding in trees. 



The nest is generally placed at the edge of the water in amongst dense 

 sedge, reeds, or bushes, and appears to be carefully concealed as a rule ; it 

 is made of reeds, grass, or any other similar material, or sometimes a few 

 twigs, and is more or less lined with down from the birds themselves. 



The eggs are said by various authors to number five to fourteen : l)ut 

 probably six to eight or ten is the normal clutch. 



The eggs vary much in colour, from an almost pure white to a greenish- 

 drab. As with most eoos of ducks, as incubation advances the colours o-et 

 duller and darker, and eggs which are white with a clean yellow or green 

 tinge when first laid become dull grey or drab with the green tint dulled 

 and sometimes lost. In texture and shape they do not vary from those of 

 the ]\Iallard, except in being slightly smaller. 



Thirteen eggs, measured by Hume, are said to have averaged 2'62 b}' 

 1*51 inches ; ibut this is probably a mistake for 2*20 by 1'51, witliin which 

 limits all the eggs come which have passed through my hands. 



The Gadwall seems to thrive well in confinement, and has often bred 

 under these conditions, including several times in Zoological Gardens. 



