OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 385 



Habits. In the warm districts of the Mediterranean basin the Red-crested 

 Pochard is a resident, hut farther east, in the much more rigorous climate of 

 Russian Turkestan, it is a migrant, and in autumn retires southwards to India to 

 spend the winter. These two countries are its great head-quarters ; nowhere 

 else is it so abundant. Its migrations into India begin towards the end of October, 

 and gradually the bird spreads south through November, not reaching the extreme 

 limits until early in December. It leaves the most southerly districts towards the 

 end of March, and the northern provinces during the first half of April. The Red- 

 crested Pochard is a thorough fresh-water Duck, and haunts by preference still 

 deep broads and lakes where the bottom is full of weed and the shore covered with 

 coarse grass, sedge, and rushes. It also frequents the wide slow-running reaches 

 of rivers where plenty of submerged weeds grow near the shore. Hume states 

 that it sometimes pays fleeting visits to any streamlet pool whilst on passage. At 

 its winter quarters it is decidedly gregarious, usually forming into flocks of from 

 ten to thirty birds, but sometimes they congregate thousands strong on very large 

 sheets of water. This Duck is remarkably shy and wary, taking wing the moment 

 danger threatens, and is considered by those sportsmen who have had much 

 experience with it to be the most troublesome fowl to work. Very rarely flocks 

 composed entirely of males have been seen, but as a rule the sexes congregate 

 indiscriminately. The flight of this Pochard is strong and rapid, but the bird is 

 slow to get under weigh, and flies rather heavily. The rustle made by the rapid 

 beats of its short wing is a very characteristic rushing sound, enabling the 

 experienced sportsman to identify the bird as it passes overhead in the darkness. 

 The Red-crested Pochard is perhaps most at home in the deep water where it 

 dives for its food, disappearing from time to time with remarkable speed, and with 

 a pertinacity unsurpassed. It obtains most of its food by diving, and rarely 

 visits land to feed, although Hume remarks that he has sometimes met with it 

 walking about the banks a few yards from the water's edge, searching for insects 

 and grazing. Although it may be constantly seen feeding by day, much of its 

 food is obtained at night, and many birds start off at dusk to visit localities where 

 food is more plentiful than in the haunts they affect in the daytime. It is at night, 

 too, that it chiefly moves from place to place, as is proved by the frequency that 

 it is killed by the flight shooter. The food of this beautiful Duck is principally 

 composed of the roots, stems, leaves, and juicy rhizomes of aquatic plants, arrow- 

 grass, sagittarias and horn-worts ; but insects and their larvae, worms, mollusks, 

 frogs, fish spawn, and occasionally small fish are eaten. The Red-crested Pochard 

 is most active in search of food early in the morning, but during the great heat of 

 the Indian day it frequently floats out into the centre of the water to sleep, and 

 here it is usually very quiet. The call-note of this species is a deep grating 

 kurr ; but the male in addition now and then utters a whistling cry, both on the 

 water and during flight. The flesh of this Duck varies considerably in quality for 

 table purposes, probably a good deal owing to diet, 

 25 



