120 A- VISIT TO. POCHARD TSLAND= 
by his short flights and quick runs (see Part I, 
Pp. 57). When on the wing he is difficult to 
distinguish from a jack snipe, being just 
about the same size and somewhat the same 
colour, but the flight is not so erratic. We 
saw mo Tern here this season. A pair os 
Pied Wagtails kept constantly to one spot. 
Evidently they had a nest close by, but we 
could not find it, though we watched the birds 
along while. We surprised a mother mallard 
with a brood of nine ducklings. (The male, 
as before mentioned, Part I, p. 145, does not 
keep with the family, leaving them to moult 
as soon as the eggs are hatched.) They all 
rushed offin great haste. One duckling—the 
strongest of the brood—keeping ahead of the 
others in the wake of their mother, and all 
waddling their best, the group formed itself 
into a V formation, which was kept up till 
they were well out of danger. It was a 
pretty sight to see them, recovered) Hom 
their fright, gathering again round their 
parent, she consoling them with soft quick 
little quacks and motherly flutterings of her 
