206 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK. 



1887. May 5. I saw five pochards, six mallards, and ten tufted, 

 all drakes. After walking round the pool, and thus dis- 

 turbing the fowl, I saw one mallard, and most of the 

 others in pairs, showing that at my first view the ducks 

 were at their nests. 



May 24. 1 identified two female pochards nesting One 

 nest was of dead Carex, the other of dead Scirpus, and 

 placed in a clump of the same plant. Each nest con- 

 tained eight eggs, varying in one nest from greenish 

 brown to brown ; the other eight eggs were all brown. 



May 26. I had a good view of a female pochard as she flew 

 from her nest of seven hard-sat-on eggs in a tussock of 

 Carex. When I put them into the pool, these eggs pro- 

 gressed through the water with a regular and consid- 

 erable oscillation ; in fact, they not only floated with the 

 big end above the water, but they swam well. About a 

 foot from this nest I picked up two pochard's eggs from 

 the bottom of the water, so that the clutch probably con- 

 sisted of nine eggs. Near this nest I found another of 

 six fresh eggs ; but could not identify the female until 

 the 30th, when I proved it to be a pochard. 1 also 

 found, and clearly identified, three more female pochards 

 as they left their nests of seven, seven, and six eggs, and 

 saw a tufted duck's nest of eight eggs. These five 

 pochard's and the tufted ducks' nests were all within a 

 few yai'ds of one another. I also found another little 

 grebe's nest of four eggs iu the same pool this day. 



May 30. In the same pool I identified, as she flew from 

 her nest of seven eggs, much sat-on, another pochard (as 

 well as the one I failed to recognise on the 26th inst.) 

 Also two more tufted ducks' nests of eight and seven 

 eggs, all near together. 



June 3. I found a nest of five sat-on eggs of pochard in 

 Carex, and identified the female as she flew away — a thick, 

 heavy bird, with grey, brown-mottled body, and dull 

 rusty-brown head and neck. 



The above extracts, although confined to one district, 

 are not restricted to one " pool," and do not include 

 Lord Walsingham's waters before referred to. It will be 

 seen, therefore, that this species nests very freely in the 

 part of the county referred to, where, I am happy to say, 

 all the fowl are well protected. 



The interesting particulars in Mr. Norgate's most 

 careful and valuable notes, afford remarkable encourage- 

 ment to those who have advocated recent legislation on 

 behalf of our wild fowl — for it is needless to say that 

 nothing of the kind was the case twenty years ago — and 

 render it unnecessary to add any remarks upon either 



