GAME-BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



" I did not take the eggs, so cannot give measurements. 

 The Duck nearly let me catch her before she left the nest." 



The Pochard was found nesting on the Berg river in 

 September by Mr. Layard, who states that the eggs were 

 from five to eight in number. Three of these are still in the 

 South African Museum ; they are broad, almost regular 

 ovals, smooth and moderately glossy, of a pale creamy-colour, 

 and measure 2.3 by 1.65 in. 



Sergt. Davies further remarks that he noticed the eyes of 

 a male bird he killed were red when he picked it up, but that 

 they changed some time after death to yellow, which was the 

 colour of the eyes in all the others he killed. My own 

 experience, however, is that the eyes of some twenty 

 males I killed were red, resembling exactly the colour of 

 a ripe red currant. 



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