POCHARD. 415 



to rise against the wind, a whole flock was sometimes taken 

 together in this manner ; for if once they strike against the 

 net, they never attempt to return, but flutter down the net 

 till they are received into the pit, from whence they cannot 

 rise, and thus we are told twenty dozen have been taken at 

 one catch. 



Pochards are in general remarkable for the excellence of 

 their flesh, and are probably little inferior to the far-famed 

 Canvas-back Duck of the United States, which they very 

 closely resemble in the colour of their plumage ; but our 

 bird is the smaller Duck of the two. Pochards are best 

 while they feed at the mouths of rivers and about fresh- 

 water, where they live almost entirely on aquatic plants ; but 

 when they feed at sea, on Crustacea and mollusca, they are 

 coarse and ill-flavoured. They feed principally during the 

 night. AYhen not excited or alarmed, their note is a low 

 whistle, but at other times it is a rough croak. Pochards 

 are not so slender and elegant in form as the more surface- 

 feeding Ducks, but are short in the body, depressed in form, 

 swimming low in the water, and bad walkers, from the 

 backward position of their legs ; an arrangement of great 

 service to them as swimmers and divers. 



The nest is placed amongst the rushes, or other coarse 

 herbage, on the margins of inland waters ; the eggs, from 

 seven to ten in number, ai-e of a broad oval shape and 

 greenish-drab in colour ; the average measurements being 

 2-3 by 1-6 in. 



The Author has seen a Duck which had all the appearance 

 of havino- been bred between the Pochard and the Ferru- 

 ginous Duck (the species next in succession) ; and Mr. Bond 

 has an undoubted hybrid resulting from this union. It 

 appears to be the so-called ' Pagets' Pochard,' described by 

 Mr. W. R. Fisher (Zool. pp. 1137, 1778), shot on Rollesby 

 Broad, Norfolk, and now in the possession of Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, who has a second example, shot in the same county 

 in February 1859. This hybrid has been named F. homeyeri 

 and F. ferinoides. In captivity the Pochard has been known 

 to breed on several occasions, but not very freely. 



