MARECA PENELOPE. 161 



being" of a dark sooty-brown colour, the centre of the down being rather 

 lighter or a dark sooty grey, and a few feathers of the bird are interspersed 

 here and there. 



•• The eggs are creamy white in colour and oval in shape, tapering 

 slightly towards the smaller end. " 



In rather strong contrast to the above '' mere depression or hole " is 

 Mr. Wolley's description of a Wigeon's nest : — '' A nest is an extremely 

 pretty sight, eyen when separated from its native l)ank, and all the 

 accompaniments of flowers, roots, moss, and lichen.'^ 



The number of ee'o-s is normally six to eioht or sometimes ten. 

 Morris says five to eight, Meyer ten to twelve. In colour they vary from 

 a pale cream, so faint as to appear white, to a rather warm cream or buff, 

 generally the former. Hume's eggs measured 2'1 to 2'3 inches in length, 

 and 1'5 to 1"6 in breadth. The texture is, of course, fine and fairly close, 

 with the surface inclined to be glossy. Incubation is said to last about 

 twenty-four days. 



Two eggs in my collection, which come from Lapland, are smaller than 

 any of Hume's, measuring 2*05 by I'D inches and 2*00 by 1"45. Both 

 these eggs are also unusually glossy. 



M 



