314 Manual of the Game Birds of India. 



and that he was going the next day to 

 see if he could find their nests. I had 

 the pleasure of accompanying him, and 

 sure enough several pairs of Pochards 

 flew up from their reedy habitation as 

 we passed our boat up amongst the tufts 

 of grass and long reeds which at one end 

 of the lake form a bog of many acres in 

 extent, almost inaccessible, for between 

 these tufts of treacherous grass the water 

 is some feet deep ; it was with the greatest 

 difficulty we managed to jump from one 

 of these tufts to another. Whilst beating 

 about amongst this herbage, a female 

 Pochard flew up almost close to us, and 

 in a short time the gamekeeper, who was 

 with us, found a nest lined with feathers, 

 and rather under the shade of a bush of 

 Myrica gale, which grows plentifully in 

 this bog. I had the pleasure of seeing 

 the nest, but unfortunately there were 

 no eggs." 



Professor A. Newton, writing of the 

 Pochards on the estate of Lord Walsing- 

 ham, in Norfolk, remarks : — " Of the nests 

 seen by me, one was built on sedge growing 

 in the water ; but the others were on the 

 land, though so close to the margin that 

 the bird could slip into the water in less 

 time than it takes to say so." 



