THE WHISTLING TEAL. ; 14 
Northern Ceylon and other southern localities where the N: FE. 
Monsoon rains are heavy, it breeds after the close of these, viz., 
from December or January to March. 
I myself have only seen its nests in the Etawah District, in 
Mynpooree, Cawnpore, Muttra, Allyghur, and Meerut. 
I have found its eggs in two situations,—in hollows in trees, or 
between the larger branches of these, either unlined or slightly 
lined with grass and feathers,—or in old Crow’s and Kite’s nests, 
which it linesin asimilar fashion. In all cases the trees in or on 
which I have found it nesting have been in the immediate prox- 
imity of water. This, however, is not at all the rule elsewhere. 
With us it lays in July and August, and a few eggs may be 
found even during the first-half of September, but the majority 
have, I think, hatched off by the first of that month. Twelve is 
the maximum number of eggs that I have seen in any nest, 
and ten or eleven are, I think, the usual complement. 
Captain G. F. L. Marshall remarks that “this species builds 
in trees a nest of sticks, and lays about seven to ten eggs. 
“ A nest, found on the 25th of July near Bolundshahr, contained 
only one egg, on which both the parent birds were sitting. It 
was a tolerably compact structure of twigs ina Keekur tree at 
the edge of a jhil about eight feet from the road ; it was at the 
side of a metalled road near a large town. I shot the male, but 
missed the female with the left barrel. When I returned next 
day, there was a pair of birds on the nest again, so that the 
female had apparently provided herself with a fresh mate in 
that short interval. In another case the nest was swarming with 
ants and maggots.” 
Mr. A. Anderson says:—“ Jerdon could never have found a 
full clutch of the eggs of the Whistling Teal, or he would not 
have limited the number to “six or eight” (BIRDS OF INDIA, 
Vol. III, p. 790). Ordinarily this Duck lays fully a dozen eggs ; 
but Iam indebted to my friend, Mr, Fynes-Clinton, for two 
clutches of twelve and fourteen respectively, which he took 
from the same nest ; whether these were laid by one or two 
birds must of course remain an open question. 
“On the 29th June 1872, Mr. Clinton flushed a bird from 
the top of a low Date Palm, (Phenix dactylifera), and found 
the first-mentioned lot (twelve) ; on the 13th July he happened 
to visit the same locality, and to his surprise found the second 
clutch in exactly the same situation ; the Duck was on her 
eggs. Now the dates are so coincident that, supposing these 
twenty-six eggs to be the produce of two different femalés, the 
second one must have laid her first egg the very day after the 
removal of the first batch. 
“As to situation, the choice may be mentioned in the follow- 
ing order :— 
(1s2).—Depression at the fork of the lower branches of large- 
limbed trees ; 
P 
