304 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



by day unless they are alarmed, is quite 

 of the Pochard character — not the quack 

 of a duck, but a deep grating kurr. 

 Occasionally the males only, I think, emit 

 a sharp sibilant note — a sort of whistle, 

 quite different from that of the Wigeon, and 

 yet somewhat reminding one of that. . . . 



" As a rule, these birds are always in 

 mixed flocks, and I have never seen any 

 party consisting only of females ; but I 

 have, perhaps a dozen times in my life, 

 come across flocks (one of them number- 

 ing fully fifty individuals) composed of 

 adult males only. 



" I have forgotten to notice their very 

 characteristic wing-rustle, which, though 

 resembling that of the Pochard, is louder 

 and harsher ; their wings are short, and 

 rapidly agitated make a very distinct, 

 palpitating, rushing sound, by which even 

 a single bird, passing anywhere near one 

 in the stillness of the night, can generally 

 be recognised." 



I cannot find any recent account of the 

 breeding of the Red-crested Pochard. 

 In the British Museum there are eggs of 

 this species taken in Spain, Algeria, and 

 on the Danube. Of the Algerian eggs, 

 taken on June 9th, 1857, Salvin wrote 

 long ago : — " In the open pools at the 



