COMMON POCHARD 27 



The pochard is as well known a bird in India as in Europe, 

 but only as a winter visitor, ranging throughout the north to 

 Manipur and even Burma, but not going further south than 

 Bellary. It is very common in the northern part of its ranges 

 but comes in rather late, not till the end of October even in the 

 north as a rule. 



It goes in flocks numbering at times thousands, but of course 

 commonly in dozens, according to the nature of the accommoda- 

 tion, the big flocks being found on the big sheets of water. It 

 is fond of open water, and may even be found on the sea coast. 

 A few feet of depth at least is in its favour, for it is one of the 

 finest of divers among our Indian ducks, and gets nearly all of its 

 food in this way, though now and then small flocks may be 

 found surface-bibbling in the shallows, and in rare cases feeding 

 on land. Their gait in this case, as Hume says, is certainly very 

 awkward, but in practice they walk rather better if put to it 

 than most diving ducks, in spite of the size of their feet and 

 eminent adaptation for swimming and diving. They rise with 

 considerable trouble and exertion, as one would expect from 

 their small wings, and blunder into standing nets in numbers. 

 Their wing-rustle is said to be characteristic, as would be 

 expected from the quick action necessary in flight to such a full- 

 bodied small-winged duck as this is. 



The vocal note is the sound like kurr, kiurr, which takes the 

 place of a quack in several diving ducks ; the male has a separate 

 note during courtship of a wheezing character. 



This pochard being a near relative of the far-famed American 

 canvas-back, it is not surprising to find it a good table bird ; in 

 fact, it is the best of the Indian diving ducks, and the only 

 one to be relied on for quality among these, except on the 

 sea-coast. Its food is vegetable by preference, consisting of 

 water plants, rice, &c., with an addition of water snails, which 

 are eaten by practically all ducks, and other animal hors d'oemire. 



This pochard is of a naturally tame disposition, but gets 

 wary enough when persecuted at all ; and winged birds will give 

 plenty of trouble to bring to book, though Hume considered 

 them less elusive than the white-eye. However, as he says, 

 they are generally shot in more open water. As far as actual 



