110 BRITISH BIRDS [vol. vi. 



Wigeon of both sexes, non-breeders, unpaired, and asso- 

 ciated in coteries of fives and sixes. Similar conditions 

 obtain among the Tufted Ducks, but — so far as I 

 remember — in no other member of the tribe. 



One Wigeon's nest was in a soft moss quite near the 

 loch-side ; the majority among bents, or stunted heather, 

 some little distance away. I was assured that young 

 had been hatched as early as April 28th ; the first I saw 

 afloat myself were some ten days later. Mid-May seems 

 to be the average date ; but broods varied greatly in 

 size, as well as in numbers — from three or four up to 

 as many as nine. 



So soon as the young take the water, the female Wigeon 

 adopts a harsh croaking sort of quack, quite different 

 from all her well-known notes as heard in winter. This 

 note deceived me at first (despite the negative evidence 

 of a 25-diameter " deer-stalker " telescope) so far that I 

 began to cherish — for brief moments — a wild hope of 

 having found a Gadwall breeding ! 



Common Pochard (Nyroca j. jerina). — I observed 

 Pochards this spring at four new points, as well as at 

 two others in 1911 — none of these six hitherto recorded 

 — and making, with the three mentioned in my book, 

 nine breeding-stations on the Borders, to wit : six in 

 Roxburgh, two in Berwick, and one (a single pair) in 

 Selkirkshire. Possibly, however, all these nine stations 

 were not occupied simultaneously.* 



The favourite site for Pochards' nests is in the centre 

 of a tall clump of dead flagsf — the remnant of the 

 previous year's growth — standing on the outer verge 

 of the wettest and most dangerous bog — often six or 



* Thus, in 1911, a pair bred on a small lochan on Kale-water, but 

 did not return in 1912. Again, Yetholm Loch (where, first of all, I 

 found Pochards breeding in 1887) was utterly abandoned by them 

 in 1911, and this sprmg I did not think it worth a visit. Similarly 

 Tufted Ducks had, in 1911, abandoned Whitton Loch where I had first 

 observed them breeding in 1906. (c/. Fa"na of Tweed, p. 16.5.) 



+ Just such situations as its cousin, the White-eyed Pochard, selects 

 in Spain. 



