342 THE DIVING DUCKS 



in the British Isles, and in England now nests in Northumberland, Durham, York- 

 shire, Lincoln, Norfolk, probably in Notts and Suffolk, and locally in Essex and 

 Kent. Along the south coast it is known to nest in Sussex, Hants, and Dorset. 

 Breeding also takes place annually on the borders of Herts, Bedford, and 

 Buckingham, and has been also recorded from Lancashire, Berkshire, and Stafford- 

 shire. It has probably nested in Anglesey, and in Scotland is now a widely dis- 

 tributed species, breeding in suitable localities from the Border counties (Berwick, 

 Roxburgh, Wigtown, etc.) northward, though not yet definitely recorded as nesting 

 in North-west Highlands or Dee area. On some of the Inner Hebrides it breeds 

 regularly, and is apparently extending its range to the Outer Hebrides and Orkneys, 

 but not as yet to the Shetlands. In Ireland it is stated to have bred in several 

 counties, and young were identified in 1907 in Co. Monaghan. Outside the British 

 Isles it ranges to Ostergotland in Sweden, Gotland, in Finland on Aland and up to 

 lat. 63, in Russia in the Baltic provinces and the Jaroslav, Kazan, and Perm 

 governments ; also locally in Germany, in Hungary, Denmark, and Holland, while 

 in Southern Europe it is said to nest in the marshes of Northern Italy, and colonies 

 certainly exist in Eastern Roumania and the Guadalquivir delta in S. Spain. It 

 is also said to have bred in Algeria, and does so in Central Asia (Tomsk, Barnaul, 

 Baikalia, probably also N. Dauria and Seistan hi Persia). During the winter 

 months it ranges south to the Mediterranean region and North Africa as well as 

 Madeira and the Canaries, while in Asia it reaches the Persian Gulf, India, Burma, 

 China, and Japan. Casual in the Faeroes, Iceland, and Norway. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. Breeding in the British Isles in small numbers, but chiefly 

 known as a whiter visitor; very irregular in the numbers and localities of its occur- 

 rence, and usually visiting inland waters. The usual date of its arrival is between 

 3rd September and 14th November (cf. Clarke, Studies in Bird Migration, 1912, 

 vol. i. p. 160). In Ireland it is chiefly found between November and March ; in 

 Yorkshire it visits both coastal and inland waters, but is not numerous ; in North 

 Wales it is noted as " variable " (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 202 ; 

 Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 404 ; Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, 1907, p. 284). 

 Gregarious, sometimes occurring in flocks of many hundreds or even of thousands. 

 [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. As a rule the pochard prefers to place its nest in wet 

 and somewhat inaccessible places, sometimes choosing a clump of dead flags hi 

 shallow water or deep mud, and at other times on the margins of reed-beds or hi 

 tussocks of rushes and aquatic herbage. The nest is a rudely formed structure, 



