555 



In Fifeshire and East Lothian it may be called abundant." In Shetland, according to Dr. Saxby, 

 it is " a winter visitant, coming in small flocks, but its appearance is very uncertain. A few also 

 return in spring, but apparently only for the purpose of resting upon their way ; for they often 

 arrive in the evening and leave early next morning ; and this happens in the roughest as well as 

 the finest weather. They are extremely shy, and for this reason seldom alight upon the lochs 

 in the daytime, preferring the wide sheltered bays, and keeping far out of shot from the shore. 



" One October day I saw the first-arrived flock of Pochards, seven in number, flying up and 

 down the voe, and at last marked them down in a small sandy bay near Hunie, where I watched 

 them for a long time showing off their strange habit of fluttering along the surface of the water, 

 and splashing it about with their wings. When in flight they may at once be recognized, even 

 at a long distance, by their light-coloured bodies and dark heads and wings." 



In Ireland, Thompson says, the Pochard is a regular winter visitant, varying, however, much 

 in numbers in different years ; and, as above stated by Professor Newton, it has on one occasion 

 been known to breed in the county of Sligo. 



It has not occurred in Greenland ; and is very rare in Iceland. Professor Newton writes : 

 — " Mohr, as rightly quoted by Herr Preyer, says that he once saw this bird in the Eyjarfjor'Sr 

 river. For eighty years no one else seems to have noticed it in Iceland; but on the 20th June, 

 1860, Herr Ernest Gehin shot one on the Thingvalla lake, which Herr Preyer saw the next day. 

 According to Professor Reinhardt it has on one occasion (in 1863) been met with on the Fseroes ; 

 and it occurs in Scandinavia, though not found commonly in any portion of that country. 

 Mr. Collett says that it is occasionally met with in Southern Norway. Two were shot on the 

 Kroderen lake, in Krydsherred, in 1829, one at Frederikshald in 1858, and one on the fiord off 

 Christiania in 1859. In 1867 it was first shot at Bergen; and Mr. Friele obtained two in 1868, 

 and several times observed it in 1869 and 1870. In the winter of 1870-71 it was seen at 

 Stavanger, and a male was sent from there to the University Museum. It is possible, he adds, 

 that it is not rare in the south of Norway. Professor Nilsson says that it is one of the rarer of 

 the Diving Ducks in Sweden, where it is found chiefly in the eastern and southern districts. 

 Von Wright states that it sometimes occurs at Karesuando. Malmlen records it as rare in the 

 late autumn near Gothenburg. In Skane it has been obtained in September at Nobbelof, at 

 Rydsgard in December, and at Arup in January. Professor Liljeborg obtained it on Gottland ; 

 and it is said to have occurred at Norrkoping and on the coast off Stockholm. Dr. Palmen 

 writes (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 521) that in Finland it only occurs in the southern districts, and is one 

 of the rarest of the Ducks. During the thirty years which were spent by Magnus von Wright 

 in the Helsingfors district he only obtained three examples, all shot in the spring ; Ekebom 

 obtained a young bird in the autumn of 1865 ; and the same year Captain Westzynthius sent to 

 the museum one he had shot near Bjorneborg. Gronfeldt surmises that it breeds at the mouth 

 of the Kumo river, as it has been shot there on several occasions. Bergstrand includes it in his 

 list of Aland birds ; but it does not appear whether he ever obtained it there. In Eussia it ranges 

 tolerably far north. Professor Malmgren says that he found it breeding numerously on Lake 

 Ladoga ; and Meves, who met with it there near Dubno, found a nest on a small swampy island. 

 Mr. Sabanaeff informs me that it breeds in the Jaroslaf Government, but only in the Daniloff 

 district. In the Moscow Government it is rare, but. further south very numerous. In the Ural 



