LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 187 



the result of two females laying in the same nest. Full clutches are usually to be 

 found in England in the first or second week in May, and the second week in May in 

 Germany, and third week in May in Scotland. 



"The female shows great devotion," says Naumann, "during the time of sitting. 

 She approaches the nest with caution, flies past it accompanied by the male with- 

 out, however, circling round it, lowers herself with the male on to the water at some 

 distance away from it, and both sit there motionless for some time, with very erect 

 necks, until finally the female, swimming in an attitude of diving, or running, bu- 

 ries back to it. The male meanwhile remains on the open water close by and warns 

 her of the approach of any danger with a loud gabbling cry, but is always the first 

 to take to flight, and later on, when the sitting is over, troubles himself no more 

 about her, stays in the daytime far away from her on the open water near, and only 

 comes back to her in the evening if she leaves the nest for a rest." 



The female keeps adding down, plucked from her own breast, to her nest as incu- 

 bation proceeds, until there is a considerable quantity deposited, and with this she 

 covers the eggs carefully if she leaves the nest. 



Eggs. — The eggs are a somewhat broad oval with the shell waxy and smooth but 

 not glossy. In color a pale greenish gray, generally tinged with yellow. After being 

 blown they often assume a dull brownish drab color. Average size of 100 eggs, 61.4 

 by 43.6 millimeters. Maximum, 68 by 45.5 and 64 by 46.5; minimum 57.2 by 43 

 and 61 by 39.2 (or in inches, 2.42 by 1.72) (F. C. R. J.). 



Young. — Observers seem to be agreed that the young do not leave the nest until 

 the day after they are hatched, and they are then tended with the most assiduous 

 care by the mother. At first she keeps them close to the edge of the reeds, especially 

 if there is any wind, and dives for food, which she breaks up and offers to them. 

 Very soon they learn to catch flies and pick up floating seeds, and they may be seen 

 diving of their own accord when only a day or two old. The cry of the young is a 

 gentle -peep, wliich they emit until fully fledged and able to fly. From early days 

 the young are expert divers, and soon learn to escape by that method if threatened 

 with danger, but on first alarm they pack closely together, as if for mutual protection. 



Before reaching full powers of flight, pochards, as well as other ducks which nest 

 in central Europe, have many enemies to contend with. No doubt large pike kill 

 them in niimbers. Rats and others account for a certain number, whilst hen and 

 (on the Continent) marsh harriers account for a few. Magpies, carrion and hooded 

 crows search out the nests and destroy the eggs. 



Food. — The principal food in summer and autumn is vegetable and fresh-water 

 mollusks. They eat large quantities of the roots, seeds, leaves, and flowers of aquatic 

 plants, which they take and swallow at the bottom. They are especially fond of the 

 seeds of Polygonum arnphibium, and, in the autumn, of the seeds of Potamogdon 

 marinv^ and P. pectinatus, also the tender parts of MynopJiyllum. In confinement 

 they refuse many hard foods such as acorns, etc., which surface-feeding ducks will 

 eat with avidity. In summer the young birds eat quantities of floating insects, but 

 the old birds seem to take few of these, although they catch numbers of water bo(>tles, 

 small fish, tadpoles, and small frogs. With their liking for seeds of all kinds, it is 

 not difficult to get pochards to feed on any sort of grain or bird seeds. Like other 

 diving ducks, they swallow a considerable quantity of sand or small stones, to assist 

 digestion. Pochards seldom go on land to feed unless upon some mound of mud and 

 water reeds which drought or a falling lake has exposed. They also seldom tip up 

 the hind part of the body to reach food with the bill. They are not averse, however, 

 to taking floating seeds and insects off the surface of the water. 



Behavior. — Generally busy feeding at night, they like to rest and sleep a great 

 part of the day with bill tucked into the shoulder feathers. In this aUitiule they 

 remain for hours half asleep, but not so soundly that they avoid using their foot to 

 maintain their position in the same spot. 



