110 NETTA RUFINA 



two females. Another nest found in the Rhone delta had fourteen eggs and was also 

 laid in by two females (Ingram, London Field, Sept. 5, 1908). The eggs when fresh 

 are of a clear pea-green to grayish-green color which fades to a grayish yellow after 

 the egg is blown. The measurements of seventy eggs averaged 58.33 by 41.76 mm., 

 the greatest length and breadth being 62.3 and 45.1, the smallest length and breadth 

 53 and 39.6 mm. (Hartert, 1920a). 



According to St. Quintin (Millais, 1913) the incubation period is twenty-seven 

 days; according to Heinroth (1908), twenty-eight days. Mr. Wormald's captive-laid 

 eggs hatched in less time, twenty-five to twenty-six days. Male birds gather to- 

 gether soon after incubation has commenced and leave the vicinity of the nest, 

 probably at times traveling considerable distances in order to moult. Poncins says 

 that in the little colony he observed so closely the males mingled with the young 

 when the latter had grown to full size. 



The male begins to go into eclipse plumage at an early date. 



Status. A general idea of the enormous numbers of this Pochard in Turkestan 

 and India has been given in the account of its distribution. In western Europe the 

 status seems to be about the same as it was fifty years ago, that is, scarce and ir- 

 regular; but Millais (1913) remarks that hardly a winter now passes without a 

 specimen being killed or reported somewhere in England. The species seems to have 

 disappeared as a breeding bird in Saxony since the eighties (A. Miiller, 1880), but in 

 the delta region of France it appears to be holding its own, if not increasing. Baker 

 (1921), the latest authority on Indian birds, makes no mention of any decrease in 

 that part of the world. 



Enemies. The enemies of the diving ducks do not differ essentially from those of 

 surface-feeders and nothing specific is recorded for this species. The nest found by 

 Mr. Ingram in the Rhone delta was deserted and partly destroyed and he suggests 

 the Marsh Harrier as a possible culprit. Naumann (1896-1905) mentions various 

 intestinal worms and parasitic feather-mites. 



Food Value. Over most of its range this duck is considered very good for the 

 table, but in India, where at times they take a good deal of animal food, they are, 

 like the Common Pochard, under similar conditions, rank and coarse (Baker, 1921). 

 When eating proper food they are fully as good as the Pochard or the Widgeon. 



Hunt-. Hume (Hume and Marshall, 1879) seems to have been the first to hunt 

 these ducks with a punt-gun, and his description conveys a good picture of their 

 behavior when approached by water. "We had had a very heavy and late rainy 

 season, and this jhil, always large, was then immense. All night long, pitched as my 



