DUCKS 321 



From the swimming ducks the diving ducks are distinguished by 



Pochard. , & * 



the broad lobe of the hind-toe. They are more confined to the water 



than the former, and swim so deep that the tail generally lies on the surface. 

 Although they dive deep, they are unable to pursue their food under water, and 

 only secure it by diving straight down, and coming up within a short distance of 

 where they started. Inland lakes and swamps with open water, and shores clothed 

 with reeds form the usual residence of the pochard (Fidigula ferina), which is 

 known as a nesting-bird from Britain to Lake Baikal, though not farther north 

 than 60°, or south of the Caspian, and as a winter-migrant visits North Africa, 

 India, and China. The nest is of dry grass and sedge lined with brownish 

 grey down, having obscure white centres, and the clutch of eggs numbers from 

 seven to thirteen. The nest is by the side of, or floating on, water, and the eggs, 

 which are greenish buff in colour, are seldom laid before the middle of May. 

 Plants growing beneath the surface in fresh-w T ater lakes are favourite food of 

 the pochard, which also eats insects, molluscs, and crustaceans, and lives almost 

 entirely on these when it is by the sea. It is netted in fairly large numbers, besides 

 being shot ; and when taken on a lake is an excellent table-bird, although if killed 

 on the sea is almost uneatable, owing to the difference in its food. The flight 

 of the pochard is straight and noisy, the bird rising with a jerk and settling with 

 a flutter from beak to tail. In the drake, which measures 18 inches, the beak is black 

 with a broad blue bar in the middle, the head chestnut, the back grey, the wing-bar 

 grey, the chest brownish black, the breast greyish white, and the eye orange, 

 changing from yellow 7 to red as the bird advances in age. The female is 

 about the same size, but much more subdued in colouring, having a white throat, 

 and being whitish round the eye, which is generally brown. 



white-Eyed While the pochard feeds late in the evening or at night, the white- 



Duck, eyed or ferruginous duck {Nyroca ferrugvnea) feeds oftener during the 

 daytime, frequenting reedy pools and other fresh w f aters with plenty of shelter along 

 the shores, and being naturally of a shy and retiring disposition. The nest, which is 

 lined with brownish down, is generally quite close to the water, and made of reeds 

 and other water-plants, but sometimes of moss ; the eggs being from nine to twelve 

 in number and of a greenish stone-colour. This is the most quarrelsome of the 

 diving clucks, and at pairing-time the fights between the males become so serious 

 that they seem to be only saved from killing each other by the warning calls of 

 the females looking on. In September the families begin to congregate in large 

 flocks, and at the end of October start on migration. At the end of March 

 they return from the south to their breeding-area, which is mainly in the east of 

 Europe. In Hungary, Rumania, and the Dobrudscha, the white-eyed duck is 

 abundant on the shores of the Dniester, the Don, and the Volga. It also breeds in 

 Holland and through central and southern Europe, central Asia, and Kashmir, 

 while it also reaches Abyssinia and Burma. An occasional visitor to the Firth 

 of Forth, it is seldom seen farther north. In size it is rather smaller than the 

 pochard, from which it is distinguished by its ferruginous head, brown back, the 

 white lower part of the breast, white wing-bar and eye, and the mostly blue beak. 

 This species is very laboured and noisy on the wing, and pats the water for some 

 time before it rises, but in the water no bird is more at home. 

 vol. 1. — 21 



