THE SWIMiMERS 



■07 



POCHARD. 



the whole head is creamy chestnut, the 

 throat is black and chocolate below, and 

 the upper surface of the body delicately 

 vermiculated with grey and black. The 

 male Teal is also similarly coloured above, 

 but the head and neck of deep chestnut 

 with broad green stripe outlined with 

 white, extending from around the eye 

 down the sides of the neck, is a distinc- 

 tive characteristic of the most beautiful 

 and tamest of British 

 wildfowl. 



Wild Duck, probably 

 on account of the in- 

 creased artificial rearing 

 of these birds for sport- 

 ing purposes, are on the 

 increase, and for some 

 unaccountable r e a s o n 

 Sho^■ellers also ha\'e of 

 recent years bred more 

 frequently in several 

 counties ; but, on the 

 other hand, for an equally 

 inexplicable reason Teal 

 do not so often stay to 

 rear their young here as 

 was the case five-and- 

 twenty years ago. 



Coming to the diving 

 ducks, the Pochard or 

 Dunbird — so-called from 

 the colour of the head, 

 which is dark dull brown 

 the female and chest- 



the most common. It 

 occurs in large flocks dur- 

 ing the winter months — 

 resting by day at sea 

 generally, and coming to 

 feed on inland waters at 

 night. But on the Broads, 

 reservoirs, and large un- 

 disturbed pieces of shal- 

 low and weedy water, 

 where food is plentiful. 

 Pochards frequently spend 

 both night and day. In 

 favourable localities a few 

 pairs remain to breed. 

 The speculum, or wing 

 patch, in this duck is 

 grey and indistinct, and 

 the beak black with a 

 lead-coloured band across 

 The crimson iris of the 

 also a distinguishing but 

 feature, as it is not 

 about the end of the 

 frequently fades to yellow 

 I have, in fact, watched 

 in a wounded bird. 

 Of the three black and white ducks 

 the Tufted, or Black-headed Poker, is 

 the most common, and seems to be on 



Photograph by y. Atkinson, Lteas. 



the middle, 

 adult male is 

 an unreliable 

 assumed until 

 year, and 

 after death 

 the process 



m 



nut-red in the male — is 



SHOVELLERS : DUCK AND 



