remain seein to prefer pieces of water with sloping edges and 

 clear of bushes and high banks; it is not often seen in small 

 ponds, but is numerous where there are extensive sheets of 

 shallow water, with grassy edges. Nothing is prettier to see 

 than a flock of hundreds of them flying and wheeling about high 

 in the air, and it is pleasant to hear the rushing noise made by 

 their wings as they descend from a higher elevation to a lower 

 one, as they often do. 



The same year I saw the Wigeon in the parks, one of the 

 keepers in the Regents-park Gardens told me the Tufted Ducks 

 had bred, and that they had not been able to catch the young 

 (and no wonder, as, if they once get to the water, they dive like 

 water-rats) . Such a circumstance might account for their having 

 been seen flying from one piece of water to another, and might 

 also account for the few instances which have been noticed with- 

 in the last few years of this bird breeding in this country. That 

 some wild Tufted Ducks and pochards should sometimes find out 

 pieces of water like those in the parks, and, being undisturbed, 

 remain for several days, is probable enough. Both these species 

 often reluctantly leave the water, and will sometimes suffer an 

 approach within one hundred yards without concern. I am not 

 aware that the Pochard has bred in confinement; and, even if it 

 did, probably the young would not remain with the parents un- 

 less pinioned, but would follow their natural instinct, and mi- 

 grate at the regular season. 



I never remember seeing a Pochard in its first plumage : all, 

 on arriving here, show most of the plumage of the old birds ; and 

 it seems probable that the few Pochards and Tufted Ducks which 

 may have naturally bred in this country, both old and young, 

 migrate early, as it seldom happens that either species is met with 

 in early autumn, or until the ordinary autumnal, or rather win- 

 ter, migration, when those which have been bred at their regular 

 breeding places appear at particular lakes and ponds in consider- 

 able numbers, a few remaining during the winter. Many sorts 

 of wild birds, in severe weather, quickly perceive where they 

 may remain in comparative security. This year I saw Tufted 



