232 INDIAN DUCKS. 



their nest in cover, some little distance from the water ; for Lord Lilford, 

 who found their nest in Southern Spain, writes : — " We obtained a n^st 

 of nine eggs, from which I shot the female bird. The nest was at a short 

 distance from the water, in high rushes, and was composed of dead 

 dry water-plants, flags, &c., and lined with thick brownish-white down 

 and a few white feathers." 



In Europe, also, it is said to sometimes lay twelve eggs ; and I have one 

 record from Turkey of fourteen eggs having been laid in a nest. This 

 nest also, I may add, was placed a considerable distance from water, 

 in amonorst the bushes. The colour of the eo-o; varies from i)ale drab to a 

 quite deep cafe-au-lait, the latter colour, if dark, being imusual. Tn 

 a few eggs there is a faint yellow or greenish tinge ; but the greatly 

 predominating tint is a brown or cafe-au-lait, and nine out of ten will 

 be found to be of tliis. 



The shape is, as a rule, rather a long oval, very regular, and they vary 

 but little. Hume says : " They are commonly very regular and perfect 

 ovals, moderately broad, as a rule, but occasionally considerably elongated 

 and slightly compressed towards one end."' In my small series I have no 

 eggs thus compressed ; all are just about the same at either end. The textiire 

 is fine and close, but distinctly more porous than the average duck's efrcr ■ 

 and tl)e eggs, in consequence, are very liable to discoloration. The surface 

 is smooth, Ijut has no gloss. 



Hume's eggs vary in length between 1*9 and 2'2 inches, and in breadth 

 between 1'4 and 1"54. I have two eggs 2*25 inches long, but in all 

 others both breadth and length come within these extremes ; on the other 

 hand, whereas Hume's series average 2*1 x 1"I9 inches, mine average 

 2*12 X l*-i5, showing them, as I have already said, to bs rather narrower 

 and long proportionately. 



