COMMON POCHARD. 463 



for capturing Pochards by means of a net at dusk. (Hatfield's 

 " Historical Notices of Doncaster," 1866.) 

 Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : 



Fuligula ferina. The Pochard Common near Doncaster ; not 

 infrequent about York ; rare near Sheffield and Hebden Bridge ; 

 met with in a large pond at Hemmingfield, near Barnsley, generally 

 in company with the Scaup, Golden-eye, and Tufted Ducks ; Dr. 

 Farrar remarks that a friend of his who lived close by, and waited on 

 them very attentively with his gun, assured him that the only attrac- 

 tion to that spot appeared to be a species of duckweed which grew there 

 abundantly, and which they devoured with avidity ; on the moors 

 near Huddersfield it is occasionally obtained, also in the vicinity of 

 Leeds ; rare about Hebden Bridge ; A. Strickland says ' though it 

 is to a considerable degree a maritime bird, it is not often killed near 

 Bridlington, except in severe weather, but it is often found in our shops 

 in winter.' 



As a resident species the Pochard is extremely local, 

 its breeding places being now restricted to very few localities. 

 One of these formerly existed at Scarborough Mere, where, 

 in June 1844, the late Mr. Bean of Scarborough shot a female 

 from the nest (Hancock, " Birds of Northd. and Dm." p. 156), 

 and Hewitson (" Eggs of British Birds," 3rd Ed. 1856, pp. 

 423-4), described a visit paid by J. H. Tuke to the same 

 place, which is now practically destroyed by the railway. 

 The late Alfred Roberts noted the birds there almost every 

 spring, and the late Mr. Champley of Scarborough had eggs 

 which had been taken there. The most recent occurrence of 

 which I am aware was in the summer of 1903, when Mr. 

 Morley noticed a duck on the Mere. 



In the year 1854 tne ^ ate Sir W. Milner mentioned the 

 fact of the Pochard nesting at Hornsea Mere in considerable 

 numbers. Mr. Henry Strickland Constable of Wassand 

 informed Mr. G. D. Rowley that, in 1874, the ducks laid at 

 the usual time in the reeds, but the rain fell so continuously 

 that all the eggs were destroyed by the rising waters of the 

 Mere (" Orn. Mis." Vol. 3, p. 231) ; in 1881 as many as fifty 

 pairs were observed, whilst a well-known and protected 

 colony still exists there ; the egg figured by Hewitson from 

 Sir W. Milner's collection had probably been taken at that 



