222 On the Nidification of certain Indian Birds. 
Dendrocygna arcuata. 
Jerdon could never have found a full clutch of the eggs of 
the Whistling Teal, or he would not have limited the number 
to ff six or eight 99 Birds of India/ vol. iii. p. 790). Ordi¬ 
narily this Duck lays fully a dozen eggs; but I am 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 {Phoenix 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 birds, 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 fol¬ 
lowing order: —first, depression at the fork of the lower 
branches of large-limbed trees; second, old nests, particularly 
those belonging to Crows, Herons, &c.; and, third, thorny 
scrub or grass on the edge of swamps. 
The eggs measure 1*9 x 1*5 inch, and when fresh are of a 
milky white colour; the inside membrane is a delicate salmon- 
pink tint. 
Nettapus coromandelianus. 
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 re¬ 
connoitre, as it w r ere, the male sat on a bough watching for 
her exit. No sooner did she make her appearance than they 
both flew away together, giving utterance to a peculiar cack¬ 
ling sound, which has been pronounced to be like the words 
