576 BRITISH BIRDS. 



by a very nearly allied species, the Red-headed Duck, Fuligula americana. 

 Some ornithologists have regarded this species as doubtfully distinct from 

 our bird ; but it may be recognized by the absence of the black at the base 

 of the bill*, the greyer colour of the back, the unvermiculated white belly, 

 and by the presence of a reddish-purple gloss on the chestnut neck. 



From the Duck point of view England must appear to be a desert 

 inhabited by monsters who constantly wage war upon the rightful 

 possessors of the soil, plunder their homes, drain their feeding- grounds, 

 mow down their reed-forests, and otherwise make the struggle for exist- 

 ence insupportable. Most of the Ducks which formerly bred in this 

 country have been exterminated, or have emigrated to more congenial 

 countries ; but a few oases still remain here and there where the game- 

 keepers have strict orders to protect them, and the only enemies they have 

 to fear are a stray fox, a voracious pike, or the rare visits of a privileged 

 ornithologist. One of these favoured localities is situated in the north- 

 west of Hertfordshire, not much more than thirty miles from London. 

 The Tring reservoirs are large sheets of water, the oldest of which was 

 formed about a century ago to accumulate water for the s upply of the 

 canal, and they have become extensive breeding-places for several species 

 of Duck, under the protection of Sir Nathaniel (now Lord) de Rothschild. 

 They are surrounded on most sides by large reed -beds, varied by patches 

 of bulrushes, flags, and sedge, which provide excellent cover, where num- 

 bers of Coots, Waterhens, Great Crested Grebes, arid Little Grebes 

 make their nests. When I visited them on the 27th of last June, I 

 saw great numbers of Mallard and a few Teal and Shovellers, whilst a 

 pair of Black Terns were busily feeding. As the latter birds showed no 

 anxiety at our invasion of their grounds, it is probable they may not have 

 been breeding. On most of the reservoirs flocks of drake Pochards were 

 feeding in the company of Coots and Great-crested Grebes, and many duck 

 Pochards left the reeds at the approach of the punt. We found a Pochard's 

 nest containing twelve eggs in a bed of flags. The nest was entirely con- 

 cealed by the flags, and was about twelve feet from the open water. It closely 

 resembled the nests of the Coot, and may possibly have been built upon 

 an old nest of that bird. It was made of old dead flags, and was supported 

 by the roots of the surrounding flags, which were growing in water three 

 or four feet deep. The eggs were entirely concealed by dead stalks and 

 down. The Pochards are joined in winter by numerous Golden-eye and 

 Tufted Duck, but the latter species disappear before May. 



All the seven species of freshwater Ducks which remain in England 

 during the summer may be seen breeding on the estate of Lord Walsing- 



* In Dresser's figure of the Pochard in the ' Birds of Europe ' the black at the base of 

 the bill is omitted ; but a reference to his description, which is not very clear, leads to the 

 conclusion that an error has been committed by the colourist. 



