42 Wild Life in Wales 



The unsuitability of Bala Lake, under present conditions, 

 to the nesting requirements of wild fowl, generally, has 

 already been alluded to. Were it deemed advisable to do 

 so, it would not seem to be a very difficult task to add to 

 its attractions, and if that were done it is evident that many 

 more ducks would remain to breed here. The common 

 Wild Duck and Teal, which prefer making their nests at some 

 distance from water, are not so liable to be affected by 

 floods, but the Pochard and Tufted Duck will nearly always 

 build in a tuft of rushes or other coarse herbage growing in 

 the water, or close to its edge, if such sites are available. 

 In any event the nests will generally be placed as near the 

 water as possible, so that even a small flood is often fatal to 

 them. Though so closely resembling one another in many 

 respects, Pochards differ from Tufted Ducks a good deal in 

 their manner of leaving their eggs when disturbed. The 

 latter generally flounder off with low and heavy flight, while 

 the former sometimes rises as suddenly, and with as much 

 spring, as a Wild Duck. Their eggs are very similar, those 

 of the Pochard inclining more to a green shade, of the Tufted 

 Duck more to buff: the former are usually somewhat the 

 larger of the two, and are more prone to display those dark 

 oily stains so characteristic of the eggs of the Eider Duck. 

 Both birds utter a very similar note of " currugh, currugh" in 

 addition to which they both give vent to a low grunting 

 noise when feeding, often almost monosyllabic, but some- 

 times expressed as cum, curre. When flying, the male 

 Pochard utters a soft whistle (no doubt he also does so upon 

 the water, though I do not happen to have heard it there), 

 but I have never noticed any distinctive note between the 

 sexes of Tufted Ducks. 



Upon Bala Lake, a little party of either species (sometimes 

 mixed, but more often composed exclusively of members of 

 one or the other) may frequently be met with diving very 

 close in shore, right up to the fringe of alder trees, and, as 

 they usually all go under at much the same time, they may 

 then be approached very nearly, if one advances while they 

 are under water, and gets into cover before they come up 

 again. By adopting such tactics, I have often got within a 



