RED-HEADED POCHARD. 107 



fore part of the breast may be brownish-black, or greyish- 

 black, and sometimes the latter is deep grey. The white of 

 the back, and its dark lines, vary in intensity, as is equally 

 the case with the lower parts. Otherwise I have not seen 

 any remarkable differences. 



Habits. — The Red-headed Pochards arrive on our coasts 

 in the end of October, some betaking themselves to marshes 

 and pools, others remaining in the bays and estuaries. They 

 are, however, not common in the firths of Scotland, or in any 

 part of that country ; but on the eastern coasts of England, 

 south of the Humber, they are still plentiful, although, 

 owing to the draining of the fens, they are much less nume- 

 rous now than formerly. This sjiecies feeds chiefly on the 

 rhizomata of grasses, their leaves, and other vegetable sub- 

 stances, but also on Zostera marina, other salt-water plants, 

 worms, and mollusca. The individual described above as 

 representing the adult male had its stomach and oesophagus 

 filled with fragments of slender plants resembling the sub- 

 terranean parts of grasses. In the stomach was a large quan- 

 tity of fragments of quartz, varying from the smallest size to 

 three-twelfths in diameter, all white, and generally highly 

 pohshed, together with some earth. 



It swims strongly, sitting rather deep in the water, and 

 dives habitually for its food. Its flight is rapid, and generally 

 low ; but farther I cannot speak respecting it, unless by bor- 

 rowing from other observers. It also occurs in America ; at 

 least the specimens from that country which I have examined 

 differed only in being considerably larger. Dr. Richardson 

 states that it breeds in all parts of the fur countries, from the 

 fiftieth parallel to their most northern limits, and Mr. Audu- 

 bon describes it as very abundant during winter about New 

 Orleans, in East Florida, and in Chesapeake Bay : — "Although 

 they dive much, and to a great depth, while in our bays and 

 estuaries, yet, when in the shallow ponds of the interior, 

 they are seen dabbling the mud along the shores much in the 

 manner of the Mallard ; and on occasionally shooting them 

 there, I have found their stomach crammed with young tad- 

 poles and small M'ater-lizzards, as well as blades of the grasses 



