(2nd).—Old nests, particularly those belonging to Crows,
Herons, &c.; and
(yd).—Thorny scrub or grass on the edge of swamps."
Capt. Butler writes from Deesa: "On the 24th of August 1876,
I found a nest of this species containing ten eggs, slightly
incubated ; it was placed in a tussock of grass growing out of a
dead stick fence that had become submerged from the height
of the water. It was well concealed, and consisted of a quantity
of dry grass and sedge trodden down into a good thick
pad. The old bird sat close, and when I looked into the
tussock of grass, flapped off the nest into the water like a
wounded bird, swam 5 or 6 yards, and then dived. In about
five minutes both birds (o"and ?) returned on the wing, and
after flying uneasily round and round in circles close to me
for a few seconds, settled in some short grass on the bank about
10 yards from me, and tried to draw me away from the nest by
cackling and running, or rather waddling through the grass as
if wounded. A day or two latter, I found several young broods
about a week old, and in two instances amalgamated broods
numbering about twenty-two young birds and two old Ducks."
Again writing from Sind he says :—
" Mr. Doig took a nest containing ten fresh eggs in the
Eastern Nara, Sind, on the 22nd June 1878, and later on, during
the last week of July, in another part of the district where the
water had risen later, he and I found a few more nests containing
eight to ten fresh eggs. At that season of the year large
dhunds are filled with water by the overflow of the Indus, and
large tracts of thickly wooded country, which are dry in the
hot weather, become converted into huge lakes, dotted all over
with trees, and patches of partly submerged tamarisk jungle.
Many of these trees are overgrown with a dense green creeper,
and on these trees, in a little arbour in the middle of the creeper,
at heights varying from 3 to 8 feet above the surface of the
water, we invariably found the nests. The birds were very
plentiful, and of course all in pairs, and the nests were not
difficult to discover as the old birds were quite tame, and
as a rule were sitting on the tree, one generally on the nest,
the other outside keeping guard. The nest consisted of a
moderate-sized pad of green twigs, plucked from the creeper
in which it was built, which, becoming moist from the bird's
feet, usually caused the eggs to become more or less marked
with green stains."
Mr. Doig himself notes that " the Whistling Teal breeds
in great numbers on the Nara, (Hyderabad, Sind,) earlier
in some portions than in others. At one place, on the
23rd of June, I found a nest containing 10 fresh eggs.
The nest was simply composed of leaves of the large
bulrush trodden down, so as to make a platform, and was on
the top of a clump of these bulrushes at about 10 feet from the
ground. On 24th June I found another nest similarly situated,
but containing nothing but egg shells—the chicks had felt the
nest. At another place, about 25 miles further north, where the
birds were very numerous, they were building their nests in July,
and did not begin to lay till towards the end of July and
beginning of August. Here in nearly every instance the nest was
in a tamarisk bush which had been covered over with a small
green creeper, the eggs being laid on a mass of the creeper
inside the bush, and having generally a lot of the creeper forming
an arch over head."
Mr. brooks tells me that " on one occasion" he "took a nest
of this species out of a broken tree stump about four feet
high, which was hollow in the centre. The nest was about an
arm's length down in the stump, and the old bird allowed herself
to be lifted off the eggs when she was set free."
Mr J. Davidson, C.S., writes : " This was a rare Duck, and
only met with in the cold weather in Sholapur and other parts of
the Deccan. In Mysore it was also rare, though pairs evidently
going to breed were scattered among the weedy tanks. In the
Panch Mahals they were nearly as common in the rains and cold
weather, (I did not spend a hot weather there) as the Cotton Teal,
and bred in September and October. All the nests I found myself
were in tufts of grass which formed islands in the middle of
weedy tanks ; one clutch of eggs was, however, brought to me,
said to have been taken from a stick nest built in a bush, 6 or
7 feet high, standing in water."
Mr. J. R. Cripps says: " This species breeds to my knowledge
in Faridpur, Dacca, and Sylhct on trees in (he vicinity of water,
as well as in ' situ' grass fields ; when in these latter the nest is
placed on the ground. The nest when built on trees is of twigs,
with a slight liniiitr of grass, but when on the ground, it is
made exclusively of ' Sun' grass. July and August are the
principal months for their laying. I have never found more
than 9 eggs in any nest ; the nest when on trees is never very
high up, 20 feet from the ground being the maximum according
to my experience."
In Pegu, Mr. Eugene Oates records that he has " found nests
from the 6th July to the 29th August, twice with six and once
with seven eggs. The nest is apparently always placed on thick
matted canebrakes in paddy fields or on the ground in thick
grass. I have never seen any indications of nests on trees. In
all the three nests I have found, the above number of eggs was
the full complement, for the female in each instance, on
dissection, contained no mature eggs."
Writing from Singapore Davison says :—
" The Whistling Teal breeds freely on an island in the big
pond in the public gardens here. This island is almost entirely
covered and overshadowed by a huge fig tree, on which
I should have expected the birds to nest; but Mr. Mcrton, the