THE POCHARD. J 4i 



also and nesting on the lakes of the Mezoseg, in Transylvania. In 1892, Lord 

 Lilford had a female and a quantity of eggs brought to him from the marisma 

 below Seville, and was told that in the previous spring and summer the species 

 had been most abundant. 



The Pochard is a common winter visitor to Portugal and Spain ; examples 

 have been obtained in Tenerife, in February. It is common in Sardinia and 

 Corsica in winter ; in Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis, ranging through Egypt and 

 Nubia, but more plentiful in the Delta; common in Turkey and Asia Minor also 

 at the same season. Canon Tristram saw small flocks skimming the water of the 

 Dead Sea at its northern end, in the winter. 



It is found all through the plains of the Caucasus, and is extremely 

 abundant on the Kirghiz Steppes in summer. Severtzoff records it as common in 

 Turkestan both on passage and in the winter. Colonel Swinhoe did not find it 

 plentiful near Kandahar, where a few only were shot in March. Great numbers winter 

 in Persia and on the jheels of Northern India, also in China. Captain Blakiston 

 sent an example from Hakodadi, where it may be more frequent than is supposed, 

 being not uncommonly figured in Japanese native drawings. 



Pochards nest about the middle of May, the nest is generally placed close to 

 the water and well concealed, composed, like the nests of most Ducks, of dead 

 grasses and sedges ; the eggs, of a greenish-buff colour, from seven to twelve, and 

 bedded in down, very much like the down of the Mallard. The young nestlings 

 resemble young Wild Ducks, but the size of the lobe of the hallux will readily 

 distinguish them. 



The flight of the Pochard on first rising is low and heavy, the wings being 

 small in comparison with the body. At flight time they come in from the sea in 

 close order or clumps, and often offer a good shot, but they are an exceedingly 

 hard bird to bring down, carrying a lot of shot. In the autumn I have not 

 unfrequently found single birds in ponds in the fields, but these are invariably 

 young of the year. Their ordinary call is a whistle and the alarm-note on being 

 disturbed a croak. 



Pochards are readily distinguishable in flight by their dark fore-parts, and 

 wings, and light bodies. They are a heavy plump bird and the males will weigh 

 from 2 to 2\ Ibs. Their food is chiefly vegetable, torn up from the shallows of 

 grass-grown lakes and ponds, they also take worms, snails, mollusca, acorns, beech- 

 nuts, and on the coast and at sea various marine shells, sea-urchins, Crustacea, 

 and the rhizomata of Zostera and salt-loving plants ; one kept in captivity by 

 Mr. St. John preferred worms before anything. 



The flesh of the Pochard is in great esteem ; I have, however, on this coast 



