ANATID/K. 



431 



THE RED-CRESTED POCHARD. 



FuLiGULA RUFixA (Pallas). 



The Red-crested Pochard is a southern and eastern species which 

 was first noticed as a wanderer to the British Islands by J- Hunt, who 

 figured a female killed in Norfolk in July 1818 ; and eight or nine 

 examples have since been obtained in that county, chiefly in winter. 

 Others have been taken along the east coast, from a little south of 

 Berwick-on-Tweed to the mouth of the Thames ; Devon and Corn- 

 wall have each contributed one ; and there is a specimen in the 

 British Museum from Pembrokeshire. In Scotland one was shot m 

 Argyllshire in January 1S62 ; and in Ireland one, in co. Kerry, on 

 January i8th 1881. 



This Pochard has only once occurred in Denmark, and seldom 

 visits the waters of Holland, Belgium, France or Switzerland ; it is 

 even very local in the Spanish Peninsula, being almost confined 

 to the lakes on the east side and those in the Balearic Islands, most 

 of which are gradually being drained. In the southern half of Italy 

 it is not uncommon, and readers of Willughby's ' Ornithology ' will 

 remember that more than two centuries ago our countryman obtained 



