POCHARD. 51 



followed by a ripple on the surface. It is difficult to estimate 

 the size ot a feeding flock, for the birds bob up and go under 

 again at once ; two or three, a dozen, or none may be visible 

 at any moment. Weeds are dragged from the bottom, vegetable 

 food being preferred, but molluscs and water insects are also 

 taken. The alarm note is a guttural qu-a-a-a-ak^ but the flight 

 call is a harsh currah. When courting, the drake extends his 

 head along the water and whistles softly to the duck. On land 

 the Pochard is ungainly, its large feet, set far back, are adapted 

 for subaqueous progression. The hind toe in the diving ducks 

 is lobed. 



The nest is usually in a very wet or boggy situation, never far 

 from and often actually over water ; in consequence it is a 

 bulky structure of rushes, reeds, or flags, raised well above the 

 surface like the nest of the Coot. The quantity of blackish 

 down, acquired in the spring moult, varies considerably, and in 

 some nests, even when the young are hatched, is scanty. The 

 eggs are remarkably large (Plate 14), especially when compared 

 with those of Mallard and other large-sized surface-feeders. 

 They are greenish, six to ten in number, and are laid from 

 April to June. The nestling is olive-grey above and buft' 

 beneath, and has a buff eye-stripe and small patches on the 

 wing. 



Below the chestnut on the drake in nuptial dress is a band of 

 black, narrow above and broad on the breast ; the lower back, 

 beyond the grey, and the under tail-coverts are also black. 

 In the duck the head and neck are a darker brown and the 

 cheeks and chin greyish white ; the breast and upper parts are 

 reddish brown, the latter shading into greyish brown, crossed 

 by undulating grey lines. The browner male in eclipse is 

 indistinctly barred with grey, but is not strikingly different 

 in this plumage. Young males resemble the ducks, but soon 

 show grey feathers on back and wings ; the black breast is not 

 gained during the first year. The bill is black, crossed by a 



