GAME-BIRDS OP SOUTH AFEICA 



numbering up to tMrty or forty, diving and playing about, 

 and behaving very much like Pochards. They fly well and 

 fast, and are very good-eating. They are not difficult to shoot, 

 as they generally allow a canoe to be paddled within range 

 before they begin to get uneasy. 



Apparently no observations have yet been made on the 

 breeding-habits of this bird. 



Of the Indian species iV^. coromandelianus. 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 to ten 

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

 eggs." 



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