SPATULA CLYPEATA. 201 



and also in parts o£ Northern Africa. They are said to breed very 

 extensively in Abyssinia and also in Algeria. In Asia it breeds in 

 Tnrkestan, Northern Persia, and in the whole o£ its Northern Asiatic range. 

 In Europe it breeds over the greater part oi: the Continent, though absent 

 in some countries and present in others quite as far south. 



It makes a rather large, loose, and untidy nest of soft reeds, rushes, &c., 

 lined with down, and places it on the ground in swampy land or by 

 the edge of some piece of water in fen land. It does not appear to frequent 

 other water even for the purposes of breeding, and selects places well away 

 from observation and interference, and conceals its nest with great care. 

 Hume says that the nest is a shallow depression in the soil made by the 

 birds, and thinly or thickly lined with down or dried grass. 



The description of the down with which the nest is lined, and which is, 

 of course, taken from the l)ird itself, is said by Legge to be " small, dark 

 brown, with small plainly-defined whitish centres." 



The eggs vary in number from seven to sixteen, eight or nine being 

 perhaps the number most often laid. 



The colour is a pale, but rather clear-tinted, yellow stone-colour; some 

 have a creamy tinge, and others are slightly greenish, but a yellow-grey is 

 undoubtedly the most common colour. 



The texture is extremely fine and close, with a surface slightly or 

 decidedly glossed. My eggs average 2*06 x I'l inches, and are in shape 

 rather long ovals, distinctly pointed at the smaller end. 



Hume's series measured from 2*0 to 2*2 inches in length and from 1*33 

 to 1*55 in breadth. 



