OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 389 



Habits. The movements of the White-eyed Pochard are almost exactly 

 similar to those of the preceding species. Like that bird, the present Duck is 

 sedentary in the warm climate of the Mediterranean basin, but migratory further 

 east in the colder regions of Turkestan. In Cashmere it is chiefly a resident, but 

 to the remainder of India it is a well-known and abundant winter visitor, arriving 

 towards the end of October and leaving in March and April. Its haunts are very 

 similar to those of the Eed-crested Pochard, moderately deep broads and lakes 

 where weeds abound, and occasionally rivers and ponds. Hume states that in 

 India it is very seldom seen in open water, clinging to the cover of the reeds 

 and rushes, but certainly in other parts of the world it may as often as not be 

 observed far out from shore in the exposed portions of its haunt. It is also loth 

 to rise from its retreats, skulking close among the aquatic vegetation until 

 compelled by the advancing boat to rise. Its flight is moderately quick, the bird 

 rising with considerable effort, invariably against the wind, and very often after 

 flying in a straight course for a little way dropping suddenly into cover again. 

 This Duck is not seen much on land, and its waddling gait is said to be even 

 more clumsy than that of its congeners. The water is the home of the White- 

 eyed Pochard, and there it swims well and quickly, and dives, according to 

 Hume, with Satanic speed. "Indeed," he writes, "what becomes of them is 

 often a puzzle ; the instant that, wounded, they touch the water, they disappear, 

 and not unfrequently that is the last you see of them ; at most they only rise 

 once or twice, and then disappear for good. It is a waste of time to pursue 

 them ; if they do rise, give them instantly a second barrel." In India this Duck 

 is not very gregarious, the flocks, even when large, being scattered about here 

 and there among the cover, never rising en masse, but individually or in twos and 

 threes as the birds may chance to be flushed. In Egypt, however, the very 

 reverse is the case. There Captain Shelley observed them in vast compact 

 flocks, keeping to the centre of the lake, and the noise made by their beating 

 wings and pattering feet striking the water as they rose, was audible for a 

 distance of two miles ! The White-eyed Pochard obtains most of its food by 

 diving and bringing up the weeds to the surface, where they are eaten. Some- 

 times it remains under the surface for nearly two minutes, but when feeding half 

 that time is the usual period. Occasionally it feeds on the surface, picking at 

 the floating weed or the insects and shells clinging to the leaves. It is for 

 the most part a day feeder, and where plenty of food is available seldom wanders 

 from its haunts ; in districts, however, where the water is not very well stocked, 

 it starts off at dusk to better quarters, but this appears to be quite exceptional. 

 The food of this Duck is composed principally of vegetable substances, aquatic 

 plants, seeds of grass, rushes, and sedge ; but insects and their larvae, small 

 mollusks, shrimps, worms, grubs, and even tiny fish are eaten. The note of this 

 Pochard is described as a harsh kirr kere kirr, invariably uttered as the bird 

 rises startled from the cover. The flesh of the White-eyed Pochard is said by 



