The Pochards. 303 



mostly move at that time ; certainly you 

 very commonly shoot them when out 

 flighting, and at that time they are usually 

 in pairs or small parties, very rarely in 

 large flocks. 



" They are strong but heavy fliers, and 

 they are slow in getting under weigh : but 

 for some reason which I have failed to 

 discover (for in daylight they do not rise 

 very perpendicularly), they are very seldom 

 caught in the standing net. 



" On the whole, taking them all round, 

 they are perhaps the most troublesome 

 fowl to work, as they are certainly, in my 

 opinion, the handsomest that we have 

 much to do with in India ; and there is 

 no species that I have more often watched 

 or more closely studied. 



" I have sometimes found them out of 

 the water, on the land, a yard or two from 

 the water's edge, grazing and picking up 

 small shells and insects, and they then 

 walk better than the other Pochards ; but 

 it is rare to see them thus, though from 

 the frequency with which they are caught 

 along with Gadwall and other Ducks by 

 fall-nets on baited sward, it is probable 

 that during the night they more readily 

 leave the water. 



"Their call-note, not very often heard 



