VOL. VI.] SPRING-NOTES ON THE BORDERS. Ill 



eight feet deep, and possibly more, of rotten ooze, semi- 

 liquid. Their nests are usually near the open water, say 

 only a yard or two inside the fringing jungle of dense 

 swamp-vegetation, and often amidst those of Black- 

 headed Gulls which nest by hundreds in such situations, 

 and are compactly constructed of dead reeds, etc. 



y •" 





POCHARD DIVIXG. 



(Greenlee Lough, February 23.) 



{Drawn by A. Chapman.) 



Pochards' eggs are distinctly larger, paler, and, to my 

 eye, less green than those of Tufted Ducks, and are laid 

 a trifle earlier. We found a full clutch on May 10th, 

 and saw the first young afloat on June 9th. The nests 

 at first contain little or no " down " till incubation has 

 commenced, say about May 18th. Two nests, with eggs 

 already half -incubated (as tested in water), had no "down" 

 at all ; in another, examined this spring, and from which 

 the young had just been hatched, no sign of " down " 

 could be found. Exceptionally, a single nest (occupied 

 both last year and this) was situate on firm ground ashore, 

 in the midst of a clump of tall rushes. It was composed 

 of very scanty materials, but had a lot of " down," 



