280 AlfATIB^. 



They lay, I believe, in May, and it is, I fear, almost impossible 

 to get over the Passes early enough to secure their eggs. Five 

 and twenty years ago, when unfortunately I cared only for sport, 

 I visited several of these lakes during the latter part of June, and 

 at that time they were crowded with good-sized goslings, many of 

 them large enough to be delicious eating. 



Nettapus coromandelianus (G-mel.). The Gotton Teal Ooose. 



Nettapus coromandelianus {Om.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 786. 

 Nettapus coromandelious {Linn.), Hume, Rough Draft N. Sf E. 

 no. 951. 



The Cotton Teal Groose, or, as many people call it, the Goslet, 

 seems to breed throughout the Empire, not excepting the 

 Andamans, but not, so far as I know, ascending the hills to any 

 elevation. 



I have only found the eggs in July and August, and towards 

 the end of the latter month the young are to be seen about 

 everywhere. I have seen many nests, all in mango-trees, in or at 

 the edge of swamps or ponds, in hollows of large decayed branches, 

 and with very little lining, but it would appear from the remarks 

 of others quoted below that these are by no means the only 

 situations they affect for nesting. I have never found more than 

 twelve eggs, and from eight to ten appear to me to be the usual 

 full complement. 



Mr. F. E. Blevvitt, writing from Jhansi, says of this species : — 

 " It breeds in July and August. 



" Just above the village of Burogaon is a large lake from which 

 several eggs of this G-oslet were brought. The eggs were collected 

 in the two months on different occasions. It makes a semi-floating 

 nest on the water, among the rushes or lotus-leaves, of weeds, 

 grass, &c., all together, filled up several inches above the water- 

 level. 



" The many boatmen of the lake stated that this Goslet breeds 

 there every year, and at the Talbeehut Lake also the boatmen 

 affirmed the same. 



" The eggs are of an ivory-white in colour, having an average 

 length of 1'7 and breadth 1'3. I am not certain as to the maxi- 

 mum number of eggs." 



Dr. Jerdon says : — " It breeds generally in holes in old trees, 

 often at some distance from the water, occasionally in ruined 

 houses, temples, old chimneys, and the like, laying eight or ten 

 (sometimes, it is stated, as many as fifteen) small white eggs." 



The late Mr. A. Anderson remarked : — " This species nests in 

 holes of trees and old ruins, and never, according to my experience, 

 in old nests or on the ground. 



" I once had an opportunity of watching a pair in the act of 

 selecting their habitation. They invariably flew into the tree 

 together; and while the female used to enter the hole, to recon- 



