DbS 



I am indebted to Professor A. Newton for the following excellent notes on the breeding of the 

 Pochard in Great Britain, viz. : — " Many years ago, as recorded by Lubbock, the Pochard seems to 

 have bred occasionally, if not regularly, at Scoulton, in Norfolk ; but it had certainly ceased from 

 doing so by 1850, or perhaps earlier, and I have not heard of a nest there since. In the summer 

 of that year my brother and I saw a cock Pochard on two occasions on a mere at Wretham in 

 the same county : and I have not much doubt that the mate of this bird was then sitting on her 

 eggs close by ; for Mr. Lawrence Birch has informed me that he knew of this species breeding 

 about that time in the neighbourhood. On the 19th of April 1873, Lord Walsingham took me 

 to a mere on his property, which is not very far from Scoulton ; and we saw some six or seven 

 cock Pochards on the water, but. only one hen, or Dunbird, whence we concluded that the other 

 hens were on their nests. The keeper told me that he had found a nest in 1871, and another in 

 1872 almost on the same spot; but going to it, all we saw was a dead Dunbird. Early in June 

 1875 I understand that Mr. Stevenson saw several pairs of this species with their broods on this 

 same mere. On the 29th of May 1876 I was there again, in company with Lord Walsingham 

 and Mr. H. M. Upcher, and I was shown a Dunbird's nest containing several eggs (one of which 

 I now have) that seemed to be deserted ; but in this we were mistaken, as I afterwards learnt 

 that this bird brought off four young from it. Close by we saw an old Dunbird with her brood, 

 that looked as if they were some days old, and soon after came upon what seemed to be another 

 family party — though it is possible that they were the same birds, that had shifted their position. 

 Later in the day on a smaller mere we found two more broods (one of five and the other of seven, 

 I think), both of which with their respective mothers we saw at once. The next day, at a third 

 mere in the same neighbourhood, I was shown a Dunbird's nest, within three yards of which we 

 walked before she left it. I also saw a nest from which the young had been hatched, and still 

 containing an addled egg, as well as a brood swimming on the mere, very likely from this same 

 nest. There was another brood on a small pool close by, which Lord Walsingham visited, but I 

 did not. Of the nests seen by me, one was built on sedge growing in the water ; but the others were 

 on the land, though so close to the margin that the bird could slip into the water in less time than 

 it takes to say so. I afterwards heard that there must have been at least six Dunbirds' nests on 

 the first of these meres that summer, and three on the last, making, with the two on the small 

 mere, no less than eleven on this property. In 1877 I believe there were not quite so many. 



"In 1875 I was informed by Mr. Luckham, of Steedland, in Dorsetshire, that a pair of 

 Pochards had bred on a piece of water in that neighbourhood that summer, and perhaps also 

 two or three years before. In the summer of 1876 Mr. Edward Newton with Mr. Mansel- 

 Pleydell went twice to this place, and each time saw some birds of this species. On the 29th of 

 June in that year I accompanied those gentlemen on a third visit, and we saw a Dunbird with 

 one duckling, a second with two, and a third which was alone, but no cock Pochard. The 

 keeper said that one brood had originally consisted of five, but that the young suffered from the 

 predatory fishes. None of the nests had been found that year. In 1877 Mr. Luckham reported 

 that two or three pairs were breeding on the same water ; and I have heard of another place in 

 Dorsetshire where this species is said to have bred. These particulars my brother and I took 

 some pains to get ; and I believe them to be correct. The opinion has been expressed (Zool. 

 1877, p. 385) that this colony owes its origin to a wounded (or 'pricked') Pochard, unable to 



